Brothers Keeper
by csiphile
Summary: The CSIs track a dangerous killer, but is one of thier own a target? COMPLETE! Enjoy.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Brothers Keeper  
Author: csiphile  
Rating: PG-13 (for now, I will post on the chapter if it changes)  
Category: Case File/ GS eventually  
  
Summary: The CSI track a dangerous serial killer. Please, please R&R this  
is only my second fic!  
  
Disclaimer: I dont own them, our favorite investigators belong to CBS and Mr Zuicker,   
I just borrowed them, placed in blender and hit puree! (Though I wouldnt mind  
borrowing WP for a while ;-)  
  
  
  
  
Gil Grissom walked purposely through the halls at CSI, looking for one  
particular person, Sara Sidle. He finally catches her in the break room,  
apple in hand, ready to eat.  
  
"Want to go for a ride?" he asks noncommitantly.  
  
"Where?" She asks, quickly losing interest in the snack.  
  
"419 on Paradise Rd in Henderson."  
  
"You know I do." Sara replied enthusically, giving him one of her trademark  
grins that she used only on Gil. She put the apple back and walked out of   
the room and down the hall to grab a coat; it was chilly in Vegas at night.  
Grissom watched her and smiled to himself; he had to admit she was one of the  
best CSIs he had, if a bit much sometimes.   
  
He thought about this group of people he was in charge of,this group that  
was quickly becoming family, he supposed he was the one they looked to for  
guidance, perhaps he wasn't the best person for this all the time, but he   
had been trying lately. Catherine was the mother, everyone loved her, respected  
her, she was so easy to talk to, and yet when needed used a firm hand to get  
the point across; Catherine didn't take crap from anyone, especially Gil.   
She frequently smoothed over the administrative messes he made. Warrick   
was his student more than any of them, he was cut more slack than maybe   
was necessary, particularly where he gambling addiction was concerned, but  
Grissom thought he would make a fine investigator, and someday probably  
replace him. Nicky needed a bit more hand holding with investigations than  
any of them, but he was the best with talking to people, and getting  
information they may not have normally shared. Sara was, well Sara, she was  
hard for Gil to define, maybe because she was too much like himself,   
reserved and dedicated to work. Except in his case, he had an outlet, something to  
release the pressure of their jobs, she seems to have none, her entire world  
revolved around work. Gil saw an early burnout in her future of she kept it  
up, but he was going to do everything he could to stop that, she had too   
much to offer to let that happen. He was broken out of his little reverie to Sara  
almost bouncing down the hall to him, coat in hand.  
  
'Ready?" she asked with that smile on her face that said she was ready for  
anything, prepared for a challenge and walked past him toward the Tahoe.  
  
"Yep, lets go" He smiled to himself and shook his head at her energy.  
The drive to Henderson was uneventful, they sat in silence in their own  
worlds until they got to the crime scene which stuck out in the dead of   
night like a firecracker. Police and EMS littered the street of an upscale condo  
complex. Grissom flashed his ID to one of the officers at the perimeter and  
pulled in closer the condo in question. As they got out, Sara caught sight   
of Brass heading in their direction to give them preliminary information. Sara  
and Grissom went to the back of the Tahoe and double checked their gear to   
be sure they had everything, no one likes to be in the middle of collecting  
evidence and realize they forgot something in the truck. As they are pulling  
on latex gloves Brass appears around the corner, looking intently at Sara.  
  
"What?" Sara asks after noticing the grim look on his face.  
  
"Nothing," Brass replies while trying to gain his composure. "Nothing," he  
restates a bit more firmly.  
  
"Then why are you looking at me like you just saw a ghost?" Sara asks,  
slightly annoyed.  
  
"Close enough" Brass mumbles and looks at Grissom. "Female, in her early  
30's, names Amanda Cleavenger, her throat was slit, it's a real mess in   
there Gris, watch out, medical examiner has already pronounced" Brass quickly   
looks at Sara again and back to Grissom "Looks like the perp came in through the  
bedroom window, caught her sleeping, had minor struggle, its all yours now."  
With another nervous glance at Sara, Brass moves off to discuss something  
with an officer. Grissom catches him before he gets too far and tells him to  
make sure they take pictures of the crowd. "Sure, sure" Brass says, still  
distracted by Sara in the background who is waiting patiently for Grissom to  
finish with Brass.  
  
"What's his problem tonight?" Sara asks a preoccupied Grissom as he returns  
to her and they head to the condo.  
  
"Huh?" Gil hadn't heard a word she said, thinking about the victim already,  
taking in the scene around him.  
  
Exasperated Sara asks again "Brass, what was his problem? He was looking at  
me all weird."  
  
"I don't know, does it really matter?" He asks as they approach the front  
door of the condo.  
  
"No, I suppose not," She responds while looking back at Brass who is now   
openly staring at her. "It was just strange."  
  
Gil looks at her. "He's a weird guy".  
  
Sara looks surprised that this is coming from Gil Grissom, the pot calling  
the kettle black. Sighing, she follows Grissom into the foyer.  
  
"Nice art, expensive furniture, very clean, she obviously is well off"  
Grissom states as they make their was back to the master bedroom where the  
body lay in wait for them to figure out what happened to her.  
  
As they enter the bedroom, the first thing they both notice is the blood,   
lots of it, the coppery smell is almost overwhelming. The satin bedcovers are  
saturated in it.  
  
"Damn, not a pretty was to go," Sara comments and moves  
toward the bed, not really looking at the victim yet, continuing to talk the  
scene. "The lamp has been knocked over, pillows are off the bed, on the  
floor, other than that, not much struggle, he must have surprised her."  
looking at the single window in the room she notes "Window is open, screen  
missing, that looks like the entrance and egress spot." Meanwhile Gil has  
moved over to the body and is staring at her in much the same fashion that  
Brass was looking at Sara earlier.  
  
Sara notices he has stopped moving and takes in the look on his face, "What  
is with you men tonight, squeamish or something all of a sudden? I can see  
this is going to take a woman." She says jokingly while closing the space  
between her and Grissom and the body. Suddenly, just short of reaching the  
body Grissom whirls on her and tells her to stop. "What? Did I step in  
something?" As she looks down to see if that's the problem.  
  
"No" Grissom recovers quickly, "I want you to dust the window is all." Grissom says with   
a indescribable look on his face.  
  
"Ok, that's it, what is going on?" Sara demands sensing something's not   
right here from the look on Grissom's face, and just isn't sure what it is.  
  
"Nothing, I just want to you start at the window." he responds nervously,   
all the while blocking the body with his own so that Sara cannot get a clear  
view. She tries stepping to one side to see and Grissom matches her while  
slowly saying her name. "Sara...". Frustrated at his strange behavior she  
finally snaps at him.  
  
"For gods sake Grissom, I have seen some bad stuff before, a little bit of  
blood, hell a lot of blood isn't going to send me to the bathroom like a  
novice, what is the problem here? Get out of my way!" As she is talking  
Sara's voice is getting louder and more annoyed at the thought that he was  
underestimating her.  
  
Grissoms face suddenly softens, he sighs and realizes that he can't hide it  
from her and moves out of the way for her to gain clear access to the former  
Ms. Cleavenger. As he moves out of the way, Sara is already stepping to the  
body while giving Grissom a nasty look. *What is his problem tonight, he   
knows I have seen plenty of dead bodies*, she thinks to herself, *since when did I  
become squimish to him? Just the bugs bother me, just the....*  
  
"Oh my god" Sara breathes when finally taking a look at the body.  
Involuntarily she takes a step back, almost backing into Grissom who had  
moved toward her while waiting for her reaction, and prepared to do what was  
needed.  
  
"Oh my god," she states again while getting closer to the body "She looks   
just like me, just like me, we could be sisters."  
  
While Sara continues to look at the body, morbidly fascinated, Gil takes the  
opportunity to compare the two, both women are dark haired and eyed, hair is  
the same length and similarly styled, difference being the deceased hair is  
more layered than Sara's, and though tough to tell with the victim laying  
flat out, they appeared to be close to the same height. Perhaps the most  
striking thing is the face, if he hadn't known already that Sara was an only  
child he would have sworn that this woman was her sister. Maybe on first  
glance even a twin sister, it was unbelievable, despite the blood that  
covered the victims features. Distracted by comparing the women Gil failed   
to notice that Sara is now backing further away, perhaps making the same  
comparisons as Grissom. When he finally looks up, Sara is near the bedroom  
door just staring intently at the victim, starting to look a little pale,   
and the excitement that was evident at the lab was gone, replaced by something  
Grissom couldn't define.  
  
"Sara, can you take pictures and print the window for me please" Grissom  
asks, grasping her upper arms, trying to get her attention from the body.  
  
"Hmmmm? Oh yeah, sure." Sara replied after averting her eyes from the body   
and onto Grissom, who has a very concerned look on his face. She gives him a  
small smile and continues "I'm ok Gris; just freaked me out at first, it's  
kind of creepy, you know. She could be me." She punctuates the last part   
with a strained laugh.  
  
"Yes, I know, but we're at a crime scene, let's do our jobs," trying to get   
the focus on the scene and off the body as he turns to the victim and starts  
processing.  
  
Grissom and Sara began the painstaking process of looking for the minutest  
something to point them in a direction as to what happened. Grissom looked   
at Sara as they removed the body. She seemed to be avoiding looking at it by  
focusing on some undetermined spot on the window sill. Gil continued to take  
pictures and look around for anything that may point to whoever did this  
while Sara finished up the window. When done,she had moved onto searching the rest of  
the house for evidence, potentially the missing murder weapon. Grissom  
finished by bagging the bed sheets and went in search for Sara who had been  
extraordinarily quiet since they started. He finally found her in the office  
near the front of the house, looking at pictures of the victim with family.  
As he stood behind her, also glancing at the pictures, he noted that the  
resemblance between the two was even more pronounced when one wasn't dead in  
a pool of her own blood.  
  
"You sure you're ok?" Grissom asks quietly  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, I think... I will be. Don't worry about me Grissom; I can  
handle it," Sara said with a pained sound in her voice "It's not me in the  
van, it's someone else, someone's family lost a daughter, a sister, a   
friend, mine didn't. I have to focus on finding who did this to put their mind at  
ease." It was the most she had spoken since finding the body, and it was   
said with some force. Gil wanted to believe her and he didn't doubt that she  
would try, but he was going to have to keep an eye out on her and remove her  
if it becomes necessary. He wasn't looking forward to that confrontation.  
  
"I couldn't find a weapon, but took one of the kitchen knives for   
comparison,  
one was missing from the block." She reported, starting to get more into CSI  
mode without the body staring at her.  
  
"Excellent, ok then let's get back to the lab and process what we have."  
  
"Well, I guess this would explain Brass's behavior" she said with a small  
smile trying to alleviate some of Grissom's worry, it didn't work.  
  
  
tbc  
  
**************  
  
"Wherever you live is your temple, if you treat it like one." -Grissom  
  
"State your source." -Sara 


	2. Theories

Thanks to those who reviewed, keep it up!!!!!  
  
Same disclaimers, ect as the first chapter.  
Category (I only list here cause I didnt do a very good job the first time): SARC/ GSR  
  
  
Chapter 2- Theories  
  
Upon returning to the lab, Grissom followed the body to autopsy while Sara   
tagged all the evidence they had collected and prepared to join him. While   
tagging the bed sheets that were just soaked with blood, Sara flashed back   
to seeing the body there, but instead of Amanda Cleavenger dead it was her.   
*Dammit, that isn't helping any* she thought to herself, snapping out of it.* I   
am going to that autopsy put these thoughts out of my head, and help Grissom   
with the case.* Ruminating on the victims appearance wouldn't get her   
anywhere, except thrown off the case which is the last thing she wanted, but   
the first thing Grissom would do if he needed to and she knew it. Sara   
quickly walked to autopsy where Grissom and David where doing the x-rays of   
the body to see what internal damage had been done, if any. David had not   
initially noticed the resemblance, from years of looking at bodies probably,   
but when Sara walked into the room he had to do a double take. Sara noticed   
the look on his face grimaced.  
  
"I know, I know, she looks just like me, kind of weird. Can we please get   
past this, the important part is finding whoever killed her." Sara was   
trying to get the focus back on the victim. Grissom looked at her trying to   
gauge her emotional state, usually an easy thing to do with Sara, but this   
time her face was tightly controlled, as was her body language.  
"So what do we have so far?" She asks, and Grissom notices that she has not   
yet actually looked at the victim.  
  
"Amanda Cleavenger, 32, died of blood loss from a cross section of the   
jugular; she basically bled out. Didn't take long either, the cut in the   
throat goes almost all the way through to the back of the neck; the guy damn   
near decapitated her."  
  
"How do we know it was a male?" Sara asks, trying to think more outside the   
box and not assume anything.  
  
"I doubt a female would be able to hold her down and do that much damage   
without more of a struggle." Grissom answers as Sara nods her head in   
acknowledgement.  
  
"Anything else, is that the only injury?" Grissom inquires of David.  
  
"No, we also have bruising around the wrists and some around the midsection,   
I will be able to explain that more after I cut into her. That's I all have,   
I will page you when the autopsy is complete; she's the number one   
priority."  
  
Grissom nods and gives David his thanks. Neither man noticed that Sara had   
creeped up on the body looking at the bruising, trying to figure out what   
would have caused it.  
  
"The wrist bruising looks like someone held her down, they are shaped like   
finger marks; lets try and pull some prints. Maybe her hands above her head   
while he attacked her and then moved them to her sides?" Sara speculates,   
still not looking at the face. Grissom is watching her carefully for any   
sort of reaction; she seems to have her emotions in check. As he is watching   
her, Sara moves up to the neck to inspect the site ,looking for any trace   
that may give them a clue, when suddenly finding a small fiber of some   
description in the wound. Grissom looks at her proudly, takes the fiber from   
her, and places it in a bag for further examination. Sara looks up and   
smiles at Grissom and he imperceptibly nods at her, indicating she should   
continue. Sara looks harder at the wound; finding nothing else and then,   
taking a deep breath, finally looks at the victims face. Her reaction takes   
both men by surprise, Grissom thought she was under control. As they look   
on, she suddenly starts, and steps back; instead of the victim laying on   
that cold slab, she sees herself. Without saying a word to either of the   
other men in the room, or noticing the stunned looks on their faces, Sara   
quickly spins around and leaves the autopsy bay.  
  
"Sara!" Grissom calls after her, but before he can follow is intercepted in   
the hall by Warrick and Nick who were coming to look for Grissom to get   
their assignments for the evening. Both have confused looks on their faces.  
  
"What's with Sara?" Nicky asks of Grissom.  
  
"She blew by us in the hall; didn't even acknowledge we where there...   
nothing." Warrick continues. "It was almost like she was in her own world."  
  
"Oh man, I am not working with her again if she is in one of thoose moods of   
hers." Comments Nicky more to himself than anyone. Taking in the expression   
on Grissom's face, that was not the right comment.  
  
"No, Nicky you won't we working with Sara. Since we don't have anything else   
tonight, you both will be helping us with a murder." Grissom responds   
tightly.  
  
"Cool, what's the 411 on the victim?" Warrick asks trying to relieve some of   
the tension that Grissom is throwing into Nick's direction.  
  
Pointing toward the autopsy bay, Grissom tells them to take a look, talk to   
David, and then report to the conference room in 20 minutes to discuss their   
next action.  
  
Shrugging at each other Nicky replies in the affirmative as he and Warrick   
enter autopsy. "What is going on around here?" Nick inquires aloud as they   
approach David. Looking up, David asks if they are here for tonight's   
murder.  
  
"Yep, what do we have?" Asks Warrick as David directs them to the corpse.  
  
"Uh, has Grissom told you anything about the case yet?" He asks a bit   
nervously.  
  
"Nope, not yet, just to talk to you and report back to him. Why?" Nick asks.  
  
"Well, fellas, be prepared for a shocker." David replies as he removes the   
sheet from the victim and waits for their reactions; he is not disappointed.   
Nick just stares at the body while Warrick immediately looks up at anything   
but.  
  
"Man, that's just creepy, if hadn't just seen her in the hall, I would swear   
it was her." Nicky says as he and Warrick exchange disturbed looks.  
  
"Guess that explains both Sara and Grissoms behavior;, I'm surprised that   
Grissom would even let Sara stay on the case knowing how emotional she can   
get," replies Warrick as they leave and head to the conference room after   
getting the same speech from the coroner that Grissom and Sara just had.  
  
"Knowing Sara, do you really think she would let Grissom remove her?"  
  
"No, probably not." Warrick sighs, disturbed that Sara will most likely   
remain on the case.  
  
After leaving Warrick and Nick to get their information from the coroner,   
Grissom goes in search of Sara, first looking in the locker room, then the   
break room, her office, and he finally finds her 10 minutes later outside   
looking at the night sky.  
  
'Hey, there you are." He didn't want to ask how she was; he knew what the   
answer would be anyway.  
  
'Yep, here I am; just needed some air. No problem." Sara responds while   
fidgeting and rubbing her palms together, not even looking at Grissom;   
afraid he will read her expression too easily. He always was good at that,   
though she didn't exactly make it hard for him. Sara wore her emotions out   
on her sleeve for everyone to see and while sometimes it got her in trouble   
like in the Kaye Shelton case, usually she managed to keep them mostly in   
check. For some reason around Grissom she had a habit of letting go of any   
control and exposing herself. Maybe it was her comfort level with him; maybe   
it was her way of trying to get him to open up to her more. He was so   
private, never letting anyone in, she can't figure out why she was so drawn   
to him, why she wanted more than she had with him. She knew that even if   
Grissom had any inclinations toward her, and that was a big if, he would   
never act on it and therefore neither would she.  
  
Grissom simply took that as an answer for now. "Good, we have a meeting with   
the rest of the team in 5 minutes in the conference room, don't be late."   
Grissom gave her a smile with the last part of that statement so she knew he   
was there if she needed him.  
  
"Ok, see you there, I just want another few minutes out here." As he turns   
to leave, she lightly touches his arm "Thanks, Grissom."  
  
"Sure, 5 minutes." He touches her hand and walks slowly into the building,   
turning to look at her one more time to be sure she really was ok. Satisfied   
that she was for now, he headed to his office to get ready. What Grissom   
didn't realize was how much this really was bothering her and she didn't   
even know why herself. Resigned, Sara turns into the building and heads to a   
meeting she really doesn't want to attend.  
  
She was the last to arrive and walked quietly into the room , sitting down   
next to Catherine who just passed her a worried look. Catherine had been   
filled in by Grissom before everyone elses' arrival.  
  
"Ok here's what we have so far," Grissom started, all business and   
dispensing of any actual discussion, "Amanda Cleavenger, 32, bled to death   
in her bedroom from a cut throat, Sara and I found a significant amount of   
blood at the scene and brought back a knife as evidence. Since we are slow   
tonight, this is the only pressing matter now and we'll all work it. Nick,   
go with Brass and get information from friends and relatives; see if there   
was anyone who was bothering the victim lately or even in the past. Warrick   
and Catherine, please process the sheets; try and get as much as you can.   
Hopefully our suspect left something, Also, we have bruising around the   
wrists of the victim; see if you can get latents off that. Sara, you're with   
me; we'll test the knife confiscated from the kitchen, the window, and the   
fiber found in the wound." As he finished, Grissom closed the folder and   
sent everyone on their assignments.  
  
"I'll start on the knife." Sara tells him as she walks by.  
  
"Fine, I am going to talk to the coroner again."  
  
Almost an hour later, after being forced by Ecklie to complete paperwork he   
had been avoiding, Grissom walks into the autopsy bay as his pager goes off,   
requesting him there.  
  
"Hey, what do you have?"  
  
"Damn, Grissom, that was fast, I only paged you two seconds ago."  
  
"I was already here. What do you have?"  
  
"Not much more. The bruises on her midsection are probably from someone   
sitting on her to hold her down; she was struggling something awful and   
managed to bruise her spleen. Sorry I don't have more for you."  
  
"Me too, thanks. Catherine and Warrick will be down soon to try and get   
prints off those wrist bruises." David just nods in acknowledgement.  
  
As Grissom walks into the lab, Sara is comparing the knife to pictures of   
the wound tract trying to determine if the killer used one of the victims'   
own knives. Softly humming as she works, she is so into the comparison that   
she doesn't even notice Grissom enter. He watches her silently for a moment,   
just observing her doing her job, admiring her. Lately his feelings for Sara   
have wandered into forbidden territory. He is her supervisor; nothing can   
come of it, even though he knew that Sara had not so professional feelings   
for him as well. They were colleagues, and he had best to remember that, but   
at the same time she was special to him.  
  
"What do you have?" He asks as he moves over and stands a bit too close to   
her.  
  
"Damn, Grissom." Sara says as she almost jumps off the stool "You scared me;   
don't do that. Well. looks like we have a weapon; the ridges on the knife   
matches the wound perfectly. It's an expensive knife set sold in specialty   
stores only. Might be something to check into as a contact point for victim   
and suspect."  
  
"Very good." Grissom says as he smiles at her. He can tell she was becoming   
more herself working the crime. He gives her a rundown of what the coroner   
said.  
  
"Hmmm, he was sitting on her as he slit her throat maybe, but that would   
make an awful mess on him; someone would have noticed a guy running around   
soaked in blood." Grissom could almost see the thoughts going through her   
head trying to work the problem.  
  
"Well, lets see if we can figure out what that fiber is." He suggests.  
  
"Ok" She looks around quickly and finds the evidence pouch Grissom place it   
in earlier. "Here we go" placing it under the microscope, looking. "Hard to   
tell with the blood, but looks like clothing fiber, maybe cotton."  
  
As Sara gets up, Grissom leans over to take a look and concurs with her   
assessment. "That wont be much help until we can get something to compare   
to, the victim's pajamas were satin. Anything from the window?"  
  
"Nope, whoever it was used latex gloves; there was a small piece caught in   
the screen."  
  
"Damn, lets hope someone else got something useful."  
  
  
******  
  
  
Nick looked at Brass with a frustrated expression. "Nothing, friends,   
coworkers, family. No one remembers Amanda being threatened, stalked, even   
bothered. She was well liked, even her subordinates said she was the best   
boss they had ever worked for. This looks like a random job, dammit!"  
  
Brass just nods in agreement with Nick as they get back into the car and   
head to the lab.  
  
  
*******  
  
  
Catherine notices Warrick looking at her like he wants to say something.   
They had finished the sheets and Greg was working on the DNA analysis and   
had moved onto the body, seeing if they could lift anything from the wrists.  
  
"Spit it out." Catherine tells him.  
  
"Nothing, don't worry about it." Warrick responds, ashamed he had been   
caught.  
  
"Come on, Warrick, if its important say it."  
  
"Its odd isn't it? The coincidence that the body looks just like Sara."  
  
Catherine looks up at him and considers what he is not saying outright.  
"You think its more than just coincidence don't you? That somehow this has   
to do with Sara and not the victim?" Catherine states rather incredulously   
at him.  
  
"Just a thought to consider; what are the odds that on our shift, we would   
get a murder of someone who is a doppelganger of one of our own? I realize   
that there's no guarantee that Sara would work it, but she would for sure   
find out."  
  
Catherine takes this into consideration, "Maybe you should mention that to   
Grissom, I don't think he or Sara have thought of that possibility yet. Its   
viable, but not likely."  
  
Nodding, Warrick goes back to the body. "We aren't getting anything from the   
bruising; they used latex gloves. That's a dead end, hope the other guys   
have something to start from besides my theory."  
  
  
tbc.............  
  
*****************************************  
  
"Since when have you been interested in beauty?" Sara  
  
"Since I met you." Grissom 


	3. A Revelation and a Twist

For those who reviewed, here you go, for those who havent...please do!  
For disclaimers, ect, please see the first chapter.   
  
  
  
  
Chapter 3- A Revelation and a Twist  
  
Nick and Brass caught up with Grissom to give him the news that they had   
nothing of interest. Warrick and Catherine reported the same, but they were   
still waiting on the DNA to come back, Greg said it would be until at least   
the next day to go through all the samples and see if there was any foreign   
material.  
  
"Catherine, gather everyone in my office." Grissom asks as he runs his hands   
through his hair.  
  
"Sure, meet you there."  
  
Ten minutes later the entire team was gathered in his office comparing   
notes; even Sara seemed to be getting back to her old self as Grissom walked   
in. Warrick had kept his theory to himself, except for Catherine and he was   
going to keep it that way for now.  
  
"Ok, so far we have very little, we know that they killer used one of her   
own knives, which is currently missing. We have a cotton fiber which is   
useless until we get a match and nothing on the windows or the bruises; the   
guy came prepared with latex gloves and somehow managed to not leave a   
single piece of hair. Since we are still waiting on the DNA from the sheets   
to come back and everyone has been here for almost 20 hours go home, go get   
some rest, and we will tackle this with fresh minds tomorrow."  
  
There was a few grumbles from the group, but most agreed they were getting   
tired and could use some sleep, even Sara. Eventually everyone managed to   
leave the lab, including Grissom, and go home.  
  
Gil went home and turned on the stereo to something classical and prepared   
dinner. Shortly after eating he falls asleep on his couch, dreaming of Sara   
in that pool of blood. His not so restful sleep is interrupted a short five   
hours later from a call on his cell phone from Brass.  
  
"There's been another one Grissom." Brass states sounding distressed on the   
phone.  
  
"What? Where?" Gris asks groggily.  
  
"This time Fremont district, same MO."  
  
"What aren't you telling me?" Grissom could tell from the sound of his voice   
that there was something very wrong.  
  
"Grissom, maybe you should just come down here."  
  
"No Brass , what's going on? Tell me now." He was beginning to get agitated.  
  
"Not just the same MO, Gris; the victim has a similar appearance to the   
first one: hair, eyes, the whole bit."  
  
Stunned by this piece of information, it took Grissom several seconds to   
respond. "Ok I will be there in 20 minutes. Did you call anyone else?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good." Grissom replies softly. "Ok, I will be there shortly with Nick." As   
Grissom hangs up the phone, he debates the wisdom of telling Sara right now.   
If he doesn't she will be pissed off for being excluded, but at the same   
time she really looked like she needed all the rest she could get before   
they had broken for the night. Is this what being the supervisor was all   
about? If so, he really didn't like this part, he decided as he picked up   
the cell again.  
  
"Hey, Nick, I need you to meet me on South 46th in the Freemont District in   
20 minutes. There has been another murder....Yep, same MO. Just do me a favor,   
don't go in until I get there and can brief you...Yeah, something like   
that....No I haven't called Sara, don't want to involve her yet.... Yes Nick, I   
know she will be furious....Ok see you there."  
  
Grissom quickly got up, dressed, and brushed his teeth. He made it to the   
crime scene before Nick. Good, enough time to check it out first. Grissom   
goes in search of Brass and finds him standing on the porch door of a modest   
house.  
  
"Brass, what do we have?"  
  
"Déjà vu is what. Sarah Simpson, age 33, same MO, victim in bedroom, screen   
removed, he cut her throat, she's even lying in the same position. We also   
noticed a note on the dresser; no one has touched it-- we were waiting for   
you."  
  
"Ok thanks." As he prepares to enter the house Grissom notices Nick pulling   
up, then getting out of his truck. Grabbing his kit, Nick quickly meets   
Grissom at the doorway.  
  
"Grissom" He says in greeting. "Same guy as last night?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Busy boy." Nick grins.  
  
"Yeah, something like that. Nick, not only is the MO the same but the   
victimology is also." Grissom waits for that to sink in before continuing.  
  
"Okay, I see why you didn't call Sara." Nick responds slowly, digesting the   
information. Putting on his game face Nick continues "Well, let's get   
cracking then; we need to catch this guy."  
  
Grissom nods and leads the way into the home. They slowly make their way to   
the back bedroom, checking every room they pass for anything.  
  
"Nothing; looks like this guy came in and out the bedroom window again."   
Nick talks out the scene as they go. Slowly they enter the bedroom to a   
similar scene that Gil was greeted with the night before.  
  
The body is laying diagonally across the bed in a pool of her own blood. The   
bedroom window is open and the screen has been set on the ground next to it.   
Grissom closes in on the victim slowly, almost afraid of what he will find.   
Looking down at her, he notices the resemblance immediately. This one is not   
nearly as striking as Amanda, but a good second. Brown hair and eyes,   
approximately the same height and weight as the previous victim, the facial   
structure is close, but not quite right. Grissom now seriously begins to   
worry about the fact that serial killers frequently return to the scene and   
he may have seen Sara. While this wasn't officially a serial yet, Gil   
suspects it, and that more bodies will start showing up. He picks up his   
cell and tells Brass to please remember the photos of the crowd that was   
already gathered.  
  
"Nick, print and dust the window and check the area outside will you?"  
  
"Sure thing." He responds and heads over to the window taking a quick glance   
at the body as he walks by.  
  
Gil walks over to the dresser and picks up the note that Brass had   
mentioned. Any hope of this simply being a serial killer is gone and his   
initial concern of Sara being seen by the perpetrator is erased upon turning   
the note over, replaced by mind numbing fear.  
  
  
*Why wont you die, Sara? I tried but you came back, you keep coming back,   
I thought I was rid of you in San Francisco, they told me I was. They told me,  
they promised me. But, no, here you are taunting me, messing with my head.   
You thought you where so smart then, Harvard Girl, but who has got the last laugh now?*  
  
  
"Shit."  
  
"What did you say, Grissom?" Nicky asks from his position in front of the   
window. "I got prints, but they are probably the victim's based on the last   
scene."  
  
"Huh?" Grissom asks confused, unaware that he had swore out loud. "Oh, ok   
Nick, just make sure that they are the victim; you never know."  
  
"Gris, what's wrong? You look like someone just walked on your grave." While   
saying this Nick moves closer to Grissom, looking at the note in his hand.   
The note was written quickly and Nick could tell even with his untrained eye   
it was by someone who was very angry; the ink was very dark, like the person   
had been pressing hard on it. It was actually very hard for Grissom and Nick   
to read it completely the first time due to poor penmanship. Looked like   
plain paper and a regular ball point was used, but it would have to go   
through Questioned Documents and then maybe a handwriting analyst. Grissom   
looks intently at the dresser where it was found and notes slight   
indentations in the wood finish, indicating that it was written here, which   
means the perp had to have gone through the house looking for paper and pen.  
  
"Oh crap, Sara doesn't just look like the victim. The perp thinks she is the   
victim. That's some twisted guy." After silence for a moment Nick speaks   
again "Maybe its not her? There are other Sara's in Las Vegas."  
  
"Come on Nick, you are smarter than that, it would be one hell of a   
coincidence that there is another Sara who went to Harvard, worked in San   
Francisco, and now lives here. Especially one that looks like her." Gil says   
distracted as he bags the note. Nick stares back at him with a concerned   
look on his face and nods in agreement. "Nick, check the house for paper and   
pens, take everything."  
  
Nick immediately picks up his kits and searches the house. Twenty minutes   
later he returns with four separate notepads and several dozen pens. After   
that they process the scene rather quickly, finding nothing of consequence   
except the disturbing note. Nick checks the victims knife set and doesn't   
find a missing one. "Well that's different."  
  
"He probably still has the knife from the earlier victim, we never recovered   
it. Ok lets get back to the lab and process what we have, I will call in the   
rest of the crew."  
  
"Including Sara?"  
  
"Yes, she needs to know that she is the target, and we need to keep an eye   
on her. I am going to ask Brass to put a man on her when she isn't with one   
of us." Gil tells him as they walk to the vehicles and put the evidence in   
Gil's Tahoe.  
  
"She isn't going to like that." Nicky simply states as Gil gets in the   
truck.  
  
"I don't care.." is the entire response back. "I will see you at the lab,   
Nick."  
  
"Ok, see you there."  
  
Nick turns and walks to his truck and as he pulls out of Gil's sight, Gil   
violently slams his fits down onto the steering wheel and yells "DAMMIT". He   
rests his head on the headrest, hands still clenched and on the wheel. This is not what   
they needed right now, not what Sara needed either. He had been trying so hard to treat her   
more as an equal, but this was going to put things back a bit, by ordering the protection he  
knew she would think he was treating her unfairly again. It was the last thing he wanted,   
he and Sara had finally put the leave of absence incident behind them and now enjoyed one  
of the more productive partnerships on the team. They worked well together, it was almost  
frightening, they were always on the same page, damn near the same thought.   
It was what drew him to her. Pausing a few more seconds to collect himself,   
Gil starts the truck and heads back to the lab to start working on finding this   
guy before one of his own becomes a victim.  
  
  
  
tbc......  
  
  
***********************  
  
"You wanna sleep with me?" Sara  
  
"Did you just say what I think you said?" Grissom 


	4. Trouble with Sara

Chapter 4  
  
Four solemn faces in his office greeted Grissom. Quickly looking at Nick for confirmation if he had said anything Gris received a small shake of the head from the younger man.  
  
"Ok, here's what we have again, another woman in her 30's, Sarah Simpson. Same MO, throat was cut, entrance through a bedroom window that looks like was left unlocked." Purposefully he leaves out the appearance of the victim and the note.  
  
Catherine notices the indescribable look on his face as he makes a flash decision that Sara shouldn't hear this with the group, as he was unsure of what her reaction would be. He turns to Sara. "Can I speak with you privately?"  
  
"Why?" Sara asks confused.  
  
"I just think it would be better if this was discussed alone." He is ignoring the looks from the rest of the group.  
  
"Does it have to do with the case?" She inquires tersely.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then say it here, they probably need to hear it too." Sara responds indicating Catherine and Warrick.  
  
"Sara…. I really don't think…"  
  
"Just spit it out Grissom." Everyone in the room notices the tiredness and a bit of annoyance in her voice and tries not to look at her or Grissom. She was obviously angry about Nick being called and not her.  
  
"Fine, tonight's victim is similar in appearance to yesterdays." Grissom states while gauging the others reactions.  
  
"What else?" Sara asks without missing a beat, "That's not worth a private conversation with me, so there has to be something else." She meets his eyes and challenges him to refute her.  
  
"This time we have a note."  
  
"A note? Isn't that a bit atypical of serial killers." Sara asks.  
  
This is not a typical serial killer, not even close." Grissom says, slowly he brings out the note in the evidence bag for Catherine, Warrick and Sara to look at. As the trio gazes at the one thing they have to work with, Grissom carefully studies Sara's reaction. What concerns him is she seems to have none, she is looking at the note with detached interest. After reading the evidence, Catherine and Warrick look up, stunned.  
  
Catherine turns to Sara and quietly asks her if she is ok. Sara looks at her and smiles faintly.  
  
"I am fine." Looking at the skeptical faces staring at her she continues to reassure them. "Really, I am, no problem. He hasn't made any overt threats to me directly until now. So now I am warned."  
  
"Brass wants to talk to you, I briefed him on the way in." Grissom tells her.  
  
"Oh, I am sure he does."  
  
"Has anyone been following you recently? Does anything in this note ring any bells?" This comes from Nick.  
  
"No, no one. The note isn't…. familiar either." Sara looks distracted at the last part of the comment, almost like she is trying to remember something, and Grissom wonders what.  
  
"Ok everyone, lets get to the job at hand then. Warrick and Catherine take the sheets again, also see what you can get off this note and the notepads. Nick and I will go to autopsy, Sara, find Brass and then when you are done check the knife wound pattern, see if they match. After that we need to go through the victims lives, find a common connection, besides the obvious, this guy is finding these women somewhere."  
  
"Grissom, this was my case first, I should go to autopsy, as it is, I wasn't called to the scene" This is said with no small amount of fury, confirming for everyone what and who she is angry with.  
  
"No, Brass wants to see you, so do that first, then see where we are."  
  
"Fine." She says as she stalks out of the room in search of Jim Brass, she knew what he was doing, keeping her away from the body. She was not happy about it.As everyone breaks to go about collecting evidence, there is a palpable discomfort in the room. They are all concerned for Sara's well being with the one exception of Sara. She appears to be supremely unconcerned that there was some nutcase loose out there and he was searching for her. Catherine finds this particularly discomforting and grabs Grissom on the way out to have a talk about it.  
  
"Grissom, can I talk to you, privately?"  
  
"Sure, lets go to my office." As Gil leads the way, he knows what Catherine wants to talk about and is trying to come up with an answer himself.  
  
As they enter she shuts the door as he slides behind his desk, case file in hand with the note.  
  
"Whats up?" He asks lightly  
  
"You know what is up Grissom… Sara. You are going to have a serious problem there. She is shutting down, usually Sara is…emotional about theses kinds of cases." They both knew that these kinds of cases where dead women. "I am afraid that she is holding everything inside, that isn't good for her. She is upset, but wont talk about it. You need to talk to her, get her to open up, let out some of whatever she is feeling."  
  
"Why me? Why not you? You guys get along, maybe it would be better coming from another woman." Gil was grasping at straws here, and they both knew it. It was wrong of him to try and pawn this off, but he couldn't help it, he was bad with people.  
  
Catherine was getting very angry with him, "Grissom, if I tell her to talk to someone, because you know she wont spill to me, she will simply ignore me. Maybe if it comes from a supervisor it will hold more weight, particularly from you. She admires you, takes from your example. Besides if all else fails, make it an order."  
  
Grissom rests his head in his hands and promises Catherine he will talk to her today.  
  
"Don't screw this up Grissom, she's the best CSI you have. You don't want to lose her." Catherine tells him tenderly as she gets up and lightly touches the top of his head. Suddenly something occurs to her and she says more to herself than anyone "Well what do you know, Warrick was right."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Warrick was right, this was about Sara." She relays the conversation she had with Warrick to Grissom.  
  
Grissom just stares at her without comment about that, then just as she leaves says "Thanks Catherine."  
  
"No problem." She gives him a smile and closes the office door behind her.  
  
Grissom sat in quiet contemplation, debating how to bring up the subject with Sara, he was as concerned as Catherine about her, but without the push she just gave him, he probably would have just let it go. Sara never hid the fact that some cases bothered her, it wasn't in her nature, but he had a feeling that anything regarding her safety, or others concern for her would be a different story. She didn't like people fussing about her, simply because she didn't know how to handle them. He quickly looked at his watch and debated if he had enough time to talk to her before the autopsy was scheduled. As he was deciding, his office door opened with no warning and a very angry looking Sara Sidle walked up to his desk. 


	5. A Name

Disclaimers, ect are on the first chapter. Thank you so much for all   
the great reviews, I will post again as soon as I can!  
  
  
Chapter 5- A Name  
  
"I know it was you." She states simply, in an even voice, but Grissom could   
tell from her eyes that she wasn't pleased about something and he was pretty sure   
he knew what.  
  
"What? What was me?" He asks innocently enough, also keeping his voice even.  
  
She gives him a brief nasty look and continues "Apparently BRASS thinks it's   
a good idea they put a man on me when I am not at work. I told him no, it   
wasn't necessary; I could handle myself and he said the strangest thing to me."  
  
"What's that?" Grissom was curious that she hadn't raised her voice yet; it   
was not typical Sara behavior. Normally she would come in his office screaming   
her head off; she just looked tired and worn down to him.  
  
"He said it wasn't his decision. Why would that be? Maybe because you told   
him to do it. Dammit, Grissom, I am an adult; I don't need a babysitter." By now   
Sara has advanced on his desk and is looming over him. Grissom doesn't flinch.  
  
"This is not about your abilities to handle yourself or that I think you   
need a babysitter; we are concerned for your safety, Sara, that's it. No one here   
wants anything to happen to you, especially me."  
  
For an instant Sara is stunned by what he said, but quickly composes   
herself.  
  
"Yeah, well I am not the person you should be concerned about. How many more  
innocent women are going to be murdered before he gets to me or we catch   
him? That's whom we need to protect. We need to get the word out, alert the   
media." Between this conversation with Grissom and the argument with Brass, Sara is  
emotionally drained and simply doesnt want to argue anymore. Add to that the  
stone faced look she was getting from Grissom and she knew she wasn't   
winning this argument "I get the impression that even if I say no, even if I refuse   
this protection, you are going to do it anyway. So fine, but I am not cooperating   
one bit. I don't like it."  
  
"Fine." Grissom says, that being probably the closest he will get to her   
actually agreeing, "I am going to autopsy; please process the wound track from   
tonight. I am going to ask Brass to make a statement to the media; we do need to warn  
people without causing a panic."  
  
"Fine." Is all she says as she leaves his office.  
  
Rubbing his temples, Grissom tries to avoid the migraine he knows it coming   
on.  
  
Suddenly his door opened again, and this time he snaps:  
  
"What is with people not knocking all of a sudden?" He snips at a perplexed  
looking Catherine.  
  
"Sorry, just wanted to know how the talk with Sara went; I saw her in here.   
Let me know when you are in a mood to talk." She starts to close the door but is  
interrupted by Grissom.  
  
"Wait, sorry Catherine. We didn't have that discussion" he takes in the not  
pleased look on her face, "we had the police protection discussion."  
  
Catherine looks at him and takes in the tired look on his face and decides   
to leave it as is for now. "Ok. You better get to autopsy, they should be   
starting soon."  
  
"Thanks." He says and follows her out the door.  
  
When he arrives in autopsy, Nick is already there waiting for him. After a   
short conversation with David he learns nothing new; the victim was killed in the   
same manner as the first. Bruises around the wrists, but none in the midsection   
this time.  
  
"This one didn't look like she put up that much of a fight," David tells   
them. "The only apparent trauma is the obvious cut across the throat; she also   
bled out and there are bruises around the wrists. X-ray didn't pick up anything   
internal, but autopsy will hopefully show more."  
  
"Well, let's go then." Grissom says. Nick looks up at him, noticing the   
terseness in his voice.  
  
An hour later, Grissom and Nick had no more information, and this time no   
trace on the body.  
  
"Well, this is frustrating; all we have to work with is the note that was   
left behind." Nick states.  
  
"Yep." Grissom says sounding defeated, which is very unlike him "Nick why   
don't you start collecting the personal information on the victims so we can start  
comparing."  
  
Nick nods and heads off toward the lab while Grissom goes looking for Sara.  
While he walks to the lab space, Grissom is debating in his head how to   
approach her about this. The last thing he wanted to do was to make it an order that   
she talk to someone, but one the other hand, he didn't want her to implode and   
be no good to herself or the team.  
  
Walking into the lab, she looks up immediately, giving him that huge smile   
of hers that revealed the gap between her teeth that Grissom loved. He inwardly  
cringed at the impending conversation, but steeled himself.  
  
"Hey, Grissom. Looks like we have the same weapon: the wound track is  
identical." She was almost friendly to him, as if the conversation in his   
office had never happened. It made this that this much harder for him.  
  
"Excellent. Sara, we need to talk."  
  
"Bout what?" She asks him; Grissom never just wanted to talk about anything.  
  
"Sara, we need to discuss how this case is affecting you." He starts  
tentatively, never in his life has he been afraid of someone's reaction to   
him, now he is though.  
  
"Affecting me? I am fine Grissom, I told you that. No problem, just another  
case, ok?" She said it with such confidence that most people would have   
believed her, but all Grissom had to do was look at her eyes and he knew she was   
lying.  
  
"Sara." He sighs, "I can tell this is bothering you; please talk to me about   
it, if not me, then someone."  
  
"You want to me to talk to someone? Oh that's good, Grissom, this from the   
man who never lets any emotion show, who is so locked in himself that no one can   
get through." She spits back at him, angry with him, angry at the situation, and  
Grissom placed himself right in her line of fire. "I am not going to talk to  
someone Grissom, I don't need to. For the LAST time, I am not the one to   
worry about. I am still breathing, and my parents aren't planning my funeral. God,   
why can't any of you see that, quit worrying about me and focus on finding this   
guy. And since when are you concerned about my mental health?"  
  
This statement takes Grissom aback, he thinks since her leave of absence   
request he has put more effort into thinking about the feelings of the people he   
works with and not be so aloof. She notices the sad look on his face and starts to  
retract what she said, but before a word can come out of her mouth Catherine  
pops her head in the lab.  
  
"We got a print." Both Sara and Grissom turn to her and quickly follow her   
into office.  
  
"You run it yet?" Grissom quickly asks as Nick joins the group.  
  
"We are running it through AFIS right now, didn't match the victim. We found   
it on the very corner of the note." Warrick explains and turns to look at Sara   
and Grissom who are standing there with no expression on either of their faces.  
Both look deep in thought.  
  
As the group waits for the computer to share the name of their potential  
suspect, Sara thinks about what she said to Grissom. She hadn't meant it.   
She knew that he had been trying lately; she was just so frustrated with   
everyone asking if she was ok. Truth be told, she wasn't; that's probably what made   
her lash out at him. This was scaring her far more than she let anyone know, but   
if she ever told anyone that, she was afraid of people thinking she was weak or  
unable to handle her job. Sara never, ever let anyone see her fear, maybe  
because she wasn't frequently afraid. If she got emotional, that was a   
different story; those emotions helped her, pushed her to solving cases. Fear would   
get her nowhere. Looking up, the computer was still processing, going through  
thousands of prints a second to find a match. She quietly goes over to the  
coffee machine in the office and pours some into a ceramic mug. She was   
starting to get exhausted, she hadn't slept well the night before. She was plagued by   
bad dreams; the coffee would keep her going for a little while longer. Suddenly   
the computer stops and beeps to indicate it has a match, everyone at once looks   
at the name of the man who they suspect has now killed two women. Before anyone   
can even turn and ask the question on all their minds, the horrific sound of   
Sara's mug shattering on the hard floor resonates in the small room.  
  
tbc..........  
  
  
*********************  
  
"Grissom, can you come tape me up?" Sara  
  
"I love my work." Grissom to Catherine  
  
"It shows" Catherine 


	6. An Explanation

Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate them!  
  
Anyway, I was feeling crazy tonight and decided to post 2 chapters. Hope you like them and enjoy! The *~*~*~*~ thing means flashback.  
  
Disclaimers ect are on the first chapter.  
  
Chapter 6- An Explanation  
  
She read the name on the computer screen; she recognized it and it shocked her. Without even realizing it, Sara dropped her coffee mug on the floor all the while focused on that name on the screen. Suddenly it felt like she was under water, her vision becomes blurry and she could hear her colleagues talking to her, but they sounded so far away and she couldn't seem to respond to them. She felt strong hands on her upper arms steadying her and she vaguely recognized them as Grissom's.  
  
"Sara? Sara honey are you ok?" Catherine asked as they managed to sit her down in one of the office chairs. Warrick and Nick are attempting to clean up the mug she had dropped without getting in the way. If Grissom was concerned earlier, he was scared now, it took a lot to shake Sara Sidle, but this one name put her in a state he had never seen before.  
  
As suddenly as it happened, it disappeared, Sara finally looked around at the people staring at her, with clear eyes, and it felt like she was above water. She had really only been out of it for a few seconds, but to her friends it seemed like an eternity.  
  
"I'm ok. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you guys."  
  
"Well you did." Nick said plainly as he walked over to the printer to pickup the guys driver license photo, all they had for now. "Don't do that again."  
  
"Sorry." Sara said sheepishly. She really was, mostly because she couldn't believe she lost control like that. It had just rattled her so bad she had a physical reaction to it. She had never expected to see that name again; it was so long ago, so long.  
  
"You going to tell us how you know…. Jason Reading?" Warrick asks as he looks at the printout Nick hands him and passes it around. He wanted to get answers so they could catch this guy before he found their friend. Finally the photo Nick printed has made its was around the room to Sara who is still sitting. She shakily takes it from Catherine, which does not go unnoticed by the other people in the room and stares at it like it was covered in disease.  
  
Taking a deep breath and steeling herself from the memories Sara started slowly, "It was one of my last cases in San Francisco, what, almost 3 years ago now? I worked this murder, a young woman she was literally beaten to death. We had almost no evidence to go on, but we had a suspect, her ex- boyfriend. I was shadowing a rookie, Lauryn, she was good, but a little too ambitious, wanted to be a CSI so bad, she would do anything to get there. Anything. We worked it together with the supervision of the shift head. We were actually making progress, starting to build some circumstantial evidence; we had already proven that his alibi was bull. The suspect was James Reading, Jason's brother. James was so smug about everything, he thought that there was no way we could catch him. God he angered me so badly, he flaunted in front of us constantly that we couldn't prove he did anything. James and Jason lived together in a small house in the city. Jason was a paranoid schizophrenic, off his meds, and he didn't like the police, he thought they were after him; James didn't bother mentioning that to us. We were tossing the place, looking for evidence, when the first incident happened."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Nothing in James' room, you get anything from the bathroom?" Sara asks as she meets Lauryn at the top of the stairs, they were on the second floor with James and Jason watching them at a distance, the police where at the bottom of the stairs. The girls had assured them they would be fine.  
  
"Nothing. Go for the brothers room?" She asks already on the way to the closed door.  
  
"Yep, it's covered in the warrant." Sara smirks at James, letting him know she would find something to nail him, if not here, then somewhere. He had been very talkative while they were searching up to this point, asking about their work and the schools they went to, he seemed very impressed that Sara had attended Harvard and had a physics degree. He had asked her why forensics, and she told him that someone had turned her onto it at a seminar.  
  
The women walked into the cluttered room and began to thoroughly go through every square inch, looking for what the ME had told them was probably the murder weapon, a baseball bat, in addition to any other trace evidence. This room was in stark contrast to the others, which were neat and tidy, it was a mess, old pizza boxes littered the floor, dirty clothes strewn everywhere. So engrossed in what they were doing, neither woman noticed that Jason Reading was becoming increasingly agitated at their presence in his room and had come to stand in the doorway.  
  
Sara walked into the bathroom that was attached to the room and began searching, finding a small smudge of blood on the underside of the pedestal sink. Taking a sample, she suddenly heard a loud thud coming from the bedroom.  
  
"Lauryn?" Getting up and getting no response, Sara asks again and walks into the bedroom "Lauryn, you ok?"  
  
Jason had smashed Lauryns head against a corner of the heavy pine dresser; she was bleeding profusely, but still conscious. When Sara walked into the room, Jason was standing over her, it looked to her like he was ready to attack. Sara briefly glanced at James, the only other person there, and he had a look on his face that disturbed her more than anything, he looked pleased and was making no effort to control his brother or calm him. Taking in the scene in front of her, Sara screams for the cops downstairs and pulls her gun, pointing it at Jason.  
  
"Freeze." Sara screams at him, and it seemed to her then that the other officers should have been there already, but really it had only been seconds since she called for them.  
  
Jason turns on Sara and the look of unrestrained fury tells her that she is in trouble. She instructs him again to freeze, but it is too late. Jason is already charging her and in a millisecond he has rammed into her at full force, slamming her back against the doorframe to the bathroom. The force he put into it stuns Sara, Jason is not much bigger than she is. For an instant her world goes blurry but she doesn't pass out, the wind has been knocked out of her, she can't seem to catch a breath. This is more terrifying than anything, at this second she is unable to protect herself, her gun having come out of her hand the instant she hit the door. Jason is looming over her, like an animal that has wounded its prey.  
  
Next thing she knows Jason is pulled off her and the cops are arresting him.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"We were both treated, but Lauryn was kept overnight to observe her concussion. I had a fractured rib, nothing more." Sara stops and looks at the faces around her, they are all wearing different masks of concern. Grissom actually looks terrified and angry.  
  
"You said that was the first incident. What about the second?" Warrick asks confused.  
  
Sara just looks at him, "That's the next part." She said lightly.  
  
"Suddenly Catherine pops in with a question, she just didn't want to ask it. "Sara, why didn't you just shoot him? You would have been justified."  
  
Sara's eyes darken noticeably and she puts her head down "I had never, ever fired my gun in the line, yes I was trained to, but I froze, I…I couldn't do it. I regret that even now, the first of many mistakes I made on this case."  
  
"Jason was arrested and convicted of two counts of assault, but because of his mental illness he was remanded to the mental health facility and treated for four weeks, at which point he was released. By then we had a pretty solid case against James, we had a witness who could confirm he was at the ex-girlfriends apartment the night she died. Lauryn had made this her mission now, she was going to get him, so she wanted to confront him about the witness, get him to just confess and make the DAs job that much easier I guess. She was going to go alone, I really don't know why after what had happened a month prior. I found out and told her I was going with her, there was no way she was going by herself. Second worst mistake of my life, I should have forced her to stay, or waited for someone to go with us."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
They arrived at the house for a second time in 5 weeks, it was dark, the sun had just set over the bay and Sara was nervous about this whole idea. So as Lauryn got out of the car, Sara radioed dispatch that she needed backup ASAP at her location, and quickly relayed the address. She got out of the car and met up with Lauryn on the porch, by then James had already opened the door and was looking at them.  
  
"May we come in?" Lauryn asked.  
  
"Of course, anything for my favorite police officers." He said with what appeared to Sara to be a very menacing expression. She was now beyond nervous about being here she was scared.  
  
"Mr. Reading, we have proof, a witness, that you were at your ex- girlfriends apartment the night she died, care to explain that?" Lauryn asks him, as she closes the gap between herself and the suspect, anger in her voice evident.  
  
"I have no idea what you are talking about." James is starting to get nervous and is looking around desperately for something. Sara meanwhile has stepped closer to her partner and the suspect and happens to notice Jason Reading staring at her from the top of the stairs.  
  
"Lauryn…." Sara says, trying to get her attention and tell her they should wait for back up. Lauren ignores her, she is so occupied by the man in front of her, and Sara is focused on the more dangerous man who is now advancing toward her down the steps. They don't notice the gun that James suddenly pulls from out of nowhere and is pointing directly at Lauryn. To this day, Sara cannot remember where it came from and Lauryn claims she can't either.  
  
"Oh god." Lauryn breathes as James hold the gun in his hands, Sara is distracted from watching Jason when she hears Lauryn make a surprised noise, looking over she sees James with the gun pointed directly at her, Sara quickly pulls her own gun, and orders him to freeze. Unfortunately James doesn't head her warning and shoots at Lauryn, luckily Lauryn's training kicks in and she is able to move in time and the shot catches her in the shoulder.  
  
Without thinking this time, Sara shoots him square in the chest and he goes down in a spray of blood. Sara hears the almost animal howl of Jason as he witnesses his brother shot. Quickly she spins on him gun up and ready, but he has moved past her, going to his brother instead, placing his hands over the dying mans wound. James is bleeding profusely from the wound and Sara can now hear the sirens of the backup she called for earlier, arriving minutes to late.  
  
"You killed him." He shouts at Sara, who is stunned herself by what just happened. "You killed him you bitch. I will never forget that."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Quietly Sara amends the story with "I guess my one shot was a good one, I nicked an artery, he bled out in minutes, if that. His brother, I thought, was housed in an institution in San Francisco with no one to take care of him, that was the only choice." She is obviously rattled by the story, even though it had been years before. She keeps her head down, looking in her lap.  
  
"Jesus." Is the only response she gets, which comes from Nick.  
  
Catherine has been watching Grissom reaction to Sara's story and is fascinated with his un-Grissom like behavior. Grissom is now kneeling in front of Sara with his hands on hers in her lap. Catherine, in her many, many years of working with Grissom cannot remember him being this gentle, this tender and caring with anyone, victim, suspect, or colleague, and she is honestly surprised Sara is letting him. Nick and Warrick don't seem to notice, but they are talking quietly to each other. Catherine looks back to Sara and Grissom as he carefully touches her cheek with the tips of his fingers, almost reassuring her, she doesn't even flinch. Looking at his face, Catherine is unable to describe the emotion he is showing, mostly because it's a foreign one to Grissom's features, but she can tell that he has some serious feelings toward Sara.  
  
"Well for whatever reason, he is no longer properly cared for, so it's now our jobs to find him before someone else is murdered." Grissom says without removing his eyes from Sara. "Lets get to it. Nick, you almost done gathering that information?"  
  
"Yep boss. Its all in the conference room."  
  
"Ok, first things though, we get Brass to issue an APB, maybe we will get lucky, and in the morning, we have a news conference to warn women and have people call in if they see this guy. It's the best we can do for now."  
  
Grissom suddenly remembers Sara's behavior at the note and asks about it. "What did you recognize in the note Sara?" He asks her softly.  
  
"Oh… James persisted in calling me Harvard Girl from then on, almost mockingly. It drove me nuts, but I didn't let on." She says as she lifts her head to the group, she looks exhausted, under her eyes is rimmed in dark from lack of sleep and emotional toll of being responsible for two deaths, even though no one blames her.  
  
"Ok everyone, this is going to be a long night already, but we need to try and find any connection between theses women. Except you Sara, I want you to go home, you can barely keep your head up."  
  
"Oh no." She says as the others quickly leave, no one wants to get in the middle of this fight. "Grissom I am not leaving, these women are dead because of something I did, I am not leaving during this investigation."  
  
"Sara, I realize that, but you are no good to me or those women if you are exhausted, and don't lie to me, I know you are." Grissom tells her sternly.  
  
"I am tired Grissom, but so is everybody, don't single me out..." Suddenly Sara realizes how tired she really is when she can't seem to complete her thought "Alright" She says quietly "But how about if I just take a nap on the couch in the break room? Is that ok with you?"  
  
Grissom debates that for an instant before responding in the affirmative. He would prefer her here anyway, so he can keep an eye on her, no telling what Sara would do if left to her own devices. Plus he was feeling very protective of her and while he trusted Brass' men, he preferred it if either himself, Nick or Warrick watched her, having her stay here solved both problems. He wanted someone looking over her that HE trusted that HE knew.  
  
Slowly Sara stands up, with Grissom grasping an arm for support. Without saying a word to each other, Grissom escorts Sara to the silence of the break room, gets her to lay down on the couch and covers her with a blanket that is already there  
  
Leaning down he whispers in her ear "I wont let him near you."  
  
"I know." She responds while giving him her best smile, she knows he means it.  
  
For an instant they just stare at each other, unable to break eye contact when Grissom cups the side of her face in his hand and kisses her forehead. "Sleep." He commands quietly and leaves without saying another word shutting off the lights on the way out, trying not to think about the line he just crossed. The line he said he would never cross with her, but the events of the last few days have showed him something, that you shouldn't take for granted what you have, in his case, that was Sara. She could have easily been one of the victims.  
  
The beauty of the night shift is that there is only so many people on duty and before he makes it to the conference room lets David and Greg know to avoid the break room for a while. He figured that she had at least three hours before the day shift arrived and he would be forced to give a press conference with Brass.  
  
Walking in, three pairs of eyes look up at him with the same question. "We compromised. She is sleeping in the break room." They all nod and quickly get to the task at hand; reading the files again along with personal information, trying to find anyplace that both victims may have met Jason Reading, and any clue as to where he may be now, they were racing against the clock.  
  
tbc………  
  
***********  
  
"You have that Sara look." Warrick  
  
"You mean that Grissom look?" Sara 


	7. The Media

Disclaimers ect are on the first chapter.  
  
Thanks for the great reviews and I must apologize for my annoying tense changes, I try to catch all of them but a few slip through. It's a terrible habit that my high school and college English teachers would be very annoyed to find they didn't break me of. I will try and do better here on in. Hope I don't lose to may people cause of it! Enjoy…….  
  
  
  
Chapter 7- The Media  
  
She wakes up with a painful sensation in her neck. Slowly sitting up, Sara stretches her muscles that are cramped from squeezing her long frame onto the couch. Clearing the sleep from her brain she looks around for the clock, almost 6 am. She has been sleeping for two hours, and her rest has been peaceful, not plagued with dreams like the night before. Maybe because she felt safe here, or because she was just too damn tired to even think. Either way, it was nice. Remembering the last few minutes before sleep overtook her, she debates what Grissom had told her. He wouldn't let Jason near her, she didn't doubt the sentiment and he said it with such ferocity, but he couldn't be around her 24/7 and she has a feeling Jason won't stop until he found the right Sara Sidle. She doesnt want to think about what the kiss meant, it was nothing, he was just trying to make her feel better, but somehow on a deeper level she knew that wasn't true, Grissom finally crossed that invisible line.  
  
When Sara enters the conference room, she comes upon three very unhappy looking people. Nick, Warrick and Catherine were still sifting through the files.  
  
"Any luck guys?" Sara asks sunnily, she is actually starting to feel more like herself, the sleep did her good.  
  
"Nothing. They didn't have a common interest, not one! I don't understand. Unless we missed something." Warrick responds, looking every bit frustrated.  
  
"Dude, we didn't miss anything, there is no commonality between these women." Nick says as he looks at Warrick.  
  
"Except their looks, and they were murdered by the same person." Sara says with a touch of sadness.  
  
"Yeah." Warrick responds.  
  
"How are you feeling? You look better." Catherine asks taking in Sara's appearance, the bags under her eyes are not as noticeable as before and she looks like some of the old Sara has returned.  
  
"Better, thanks, I guess I really did need sleep. Sorry to stick you guys with the research."  
  
"No problem." Nick tells her.  
  
"Where's Grissom?"  
  
"He is in his office reviewing the press conference notes with Brass, I think."  
  
"K, thanks. You guys look like you should go home." She throws over her shoulder as she walks out the door and down to Grissom's office.  
  
As she approaches his office, she notices the door is closed but she could hear he is yelling at Brass about something. Quietly, Sara stands next to the door and tries to listen.  
  
"NO Brass. I am not doing that again, it didn't work last time and it wont work now." He is almost screaming at him.  
  
Sara can't hear Brass' response, as he is not yelling back.  
  
"I cant believe you would even ask her, Jesus Brass, she has had enough to deal with the past couple of days."  
  
At this point Sara figures they are discussing her, so she knocks and enters the office, the tension is thick enough to slice butter with.  
  
"Ok, Grissom, relax, you are going to give yourself a heart attack. I assume you two gentlemen were discussing me?" Sara turns to Brass and directs her next question to him. "Ask me what?"  
  
Brass just stares at Grissom, who is looking none to pleased to say the least. "We want you on camera during the press conference. Maybe we can draw him out."  
  
"Fine." She states simply.  
  
"Sara, I don't think this is a good idea." Grissom tells her. When she turns to him he notices she is looking much better, less tired.  
  
"It's as good an idea as we have, I already talked to the rest of the team, and we have nothing else, no common denominator…except me. And maybe this way he will stop killing innocent women, this is a tourist town Gil, there will be any number of women who look like me and wont see the news reports, or just wont care." Sara tells him with a look that indicates to him she has made up her mind and that's it, no more discussion.  
  
As Grissom and Sara stare each other down, Brass bids his farewell and tells them he will see both of them at 10 am for the conference.  
  
Neither of them say anything for a while when Sara finally breaks the tension. "It will be ok Gris, probably nothing will come of it, what are the chances a homicidal maniac will watch a press conference?" She says this with a bright smile, trying to break the tension.  
  
"Sara, this is not a joke. You and I both know there is a good chance he will see it…."  
  
"God Grissom, lighten up a little will you. I understand this is not a joke, I of all people am well aware of this fact. I am the one that is responsible for two women's deaths, they didn't know me, and yet I am reason they are gone." Sara's light mood darkens significantly. "But I would rather have the guy focused on me, I am prepared and armed, I have a better chance then they ever did."  
  
"I know Sara, and we still need to have that talk, but not now, we are both sleep deprived and I have to do my least favorite thing, deal with the living. So later, but you are not avoiding me."  
  
"Fine, I am going to help the gang, I will meet you back here later." Sara says as she heads out the door.  
  
When Sara returns to Grissom's office at ten to ten, she is wearing a different set of clothes, and she has managed to at least wash her face and reapply what little make-up she does wear. Grissom is engrossed in some file and doesn't notice her standing there. She takes the opportunity to watch him. He has been her friend for so long, before that, he was her teacher, her mentor, maybe it is just natural that she be attracted to him. His is the consummate older man, but Grissom is more than just that to her, she loves the way his mind works, she even loves the little games he plays to get all of them to the answer without revealing it. She finds herself attracted to him physically; his gray hair and blue eyes just make her melt. Lately it seems to her that he has been more attentive to her, noticing the small things, last night being a prime example.  
  
"Hey Grissom, you almost ready?" She finally asks him, pulling him out from behind the paper he was reading.  
  
"Yea, where's Brass?"  
  
"Outside waiting for us. Lets get this over with." She says as they leave his office. She notices that he walks a step behind her, one hand guiding her at the small of her back.  
  
Once outside a throng of reporters greets them. Sara is taken aback by this, she wasn't aware the cases had even been in the media. Quickly she leans over to Grissom, "Why are they suddenly so interested?" she whispers.  
  
"Because now they have connected murders, that makes good print." He says with that Grissom grin.  
  
They turn their attention to Mobley who is trying to get the attention of 20 or more eager reporters. Once order is restored, Mobley gives them the briefing about what the sheriff department is doing to capture James Reading, he also tells them that all women matching the physical description should be on high alert and report anything suspicious. During the whole speech, Sara is standing directly in front of Grissom and next to Mobley to give the cameras a clear shot of her. After introducing Sara and Grissom from the crime lab, Mobley asks of there are any questions for them. Grissom easily fields some minor stuff, and they are done.  
  
They enter the break room a few minutes later to find Catherine, Warrick and Nick watching the television and the various reports from the stations after the conference.  
  
"Well, that wasn't too painful was it?" Catherine asks. Grissom just stares at her in answer.  
  
"Channel 5 had Sara all over the screen, if he was watching, he saw her." Nicky says.  
  
"Good, I just want this over with." Sara tells them tiredly.  
  
"Alright everyone, lets get out of here. I think for now that's all we can do, see everyone back here at 9." Grissom tells them.  
  
Slowly they all leave to go home and get some rest before another night of who knows what starts again. Sara is, typically, the last to leave, she stayed behind to get some paperwork done, and when Grissom sees her still there he practically forces her out.  
  
"Sara, get out of here." He tells her exasperated.  
  
"I got a nap, and just wanted to finish up this paperwork before…." She starts before he cuts her off.  
  
"Go. Home. Now. This is not a request anymore."  
  
"All right, all right, I am leaving." She tells him and gets up to collect her coat and car keys. "Good bye Grissom."  
  
"Good bye Sara."  
  
Sara pulls into her apartment complex and parks quickly in front, one of the benefits of the night shift, she usually got good parking because most of her neighbors work days. Taking a moment to feel the sun on her face, Sara fails to notice that she is missing the promised police tail. She stops on the way in and grabs her mail, more catalogues, and a couple of bills. Sighing to herself, Sara slowly walks to her apartment door, all she wants at that second is a hot shower and then her bed; she really is still tired despite her protests. As she turns the key in the lock and pushes open the door a hand clamping over her mouth, and an arm snaking around her waist surprises her as she is shoved into her dark apartment.  
  
tbc…………….  
  
****************  
  
"No, No! I..I am not mad at me! There's a body in there and that guy knows where it is!" Grissom  
  
"What's your pulse at now?" Sara 


	8. Survival

Disclaimers, ect are on the first chapter.  
  
Thank you, thank you, thank you guys for the great reviews, it really does inspire me! And at least I know someone is reading my drivel!  
  
Chapter 8- Survival  
  
As she is pushed against her will into the apartment, Sara debates the best way to get out of this in one piece. She didn't think he had a weapon, since both hands were currently being used to restrain her and keep her from screaming, but she couldn't be one hundred percent sure of that. The problem is she does, and against her usual habits, she hadn't placed it back in the holder at her side, she simply slid it into the waist of her jeans at her back before leaving the lab. Currently her assailant, who she knew to be Jason Reading, was pressed so close to her back he had to feel it. Dammit she thought to herself.  
  
"Lock the door." The voice was almost eerily calm as he gave her the direction and turned her to face the door, and she did as instructed.  
  
"I finally found you, Harvard Girl. I thought those other women where you, but no, there were there to confuse me. I killed the first one and I thought I was done, that I had satisfied the voices, but then I saw you again, and I killed you again. But then there you were on the TV this morning and I knew I had another chance Sara. This time I will make sure you stay dead."  
  
While Jason is ranting in her ear, Sara is waiting for an opportunity to strike; and then one is presented. Jason had obviously noticed her service weapon, and in the instant he released her waist to grab it she brought up one arm and punched him in the face. Jason reeled back, but is still able to dislodge her gun, which dropped to the floor in front of them. They both lunged for it at once, Jason getting there first since he is already bent over from the blow she gave him. As they stand, Jason levels the gun at her, a first for Sara; she has never been on this end.  
  
"Bitch!" He tells her, keeping his voice level. "You are going to regret that Sara, I am going to make sure you die a miserable death like my brother did. If you move an inch, I will take your head off." Sara is terrified by the insane look on his face, and believed him; she's never been so scared in her life, including her first confrontation with this man. They stand there staring at each other for a moment then Jason advances on her, the gun never straying from the point on her head where it is aimed. Just as he gets within arms reach of her, Sara's phone rings, it startles her, but Jason doesn't move a muscle, he is still focused on her. The machine picks up and she hears Nicks voice, and for one instant Jason is distracted by the voice on the machine. Taking her opportunity Sara grabs for the gun, and manages to get it out of Jason's hand; unfortunately she is unable to keep control of it and the weapon hits the floor and skids across until it reaches her front door coming to a stop, directly behind Jason. Deciding that she has little chance of getting through him to the gun, Sara spins to the phone in the kitchen and picks it up before Nick hangs up.  
  
"Nick" She screams in the phone.  
  
"Sara? What's going on?" Nick asks, the terror in her voice apparent. Nick hears nothing else except the phone being dropped, what sounds like grunting and a struggle then a single gunshot resonates loudly through the phone. Thinking quickly, Nick picks up his cell phone and makes the call to 911, then calls Grissom.  
  
As Sara is trying to talk to Nick, she is tackled from behind, slamming her down to the ground and forcing her to drop the phone. Grunting, she struggles against the man, who now is sitting on top of her, pinning her to the kitchen floor. Sara continues to wiggle and fight for control of the gun that Jason is holding in one hand at his side, when it suddenly goes off. They both stop for an instant, and Sara gives him a vicious right hook to the nose, breaking it loudly. He promptly returns the favor, punching her in the side of the head. Fighting for all she is worth and against a wave of dizziness, Sara bites him on the arm hard enough to draw blood; she almost gags on the coppery taste. Sara looks at him and all his expression belays in intense hate and fury, directed at her. Before she can do anything, he grabs her head and smashes it hard against the linoleum floor, her last thought before succumbing to unconsciousness is this is it, she isn't going to live to see tomorrow.  
  
Sara is surprised when she wakes up and is still lying prone on her floor. She is even more surprised to see Nick and EMS with the police not far behind entering her apartment through the open door. Slowly Sara tries to get up and is immediately chastised by Nick who tells her to relax as he directs the paramedic to her. Getting her into a sitting position the worker gets her vitals and looks at the nice wound on the back of her head.  
  
"What happened?" She asks Nick. "Last thing I remember was Jason on me."  
  
"I called 911 when I heard the gunshot and then got over here as fast as I could, met the paramedics in the parking lot. Your door was wide open; maybe the sirens scared him off. Are you shot?" He asks as he quickly looks over her.  
  
"I…I don't think so." She says just as the paramedic notices that the outside of her right thigh is bleeding. "Ok, so maybe I was." Shaking her head, she looks at Nick again "I can't believe he would run, he was so determined."  
  
"Ma'am, this looks like a flesh wound, the bullet just grazed you." One of the paramedics informs her.  
  
"I don't know what to tell you Sara, there was no one here when I got here."  
  
Sara slowly nods in understanding to both the EMS worker and Nick, which just serves to make her head ache worse. "Can I get up off the floor now?"  
  
"Yes ma'am." They tell her, and Nicky helps her get up and move her to the couch. Just as Nicky sits her down and the paramedic starts cleaning the thigh wound, Grissom comes storming into the apartment.  
  
"Uh oh." Is all Nick says and Sara immediately knows who has arrived.  
  
"You called him I take it?" She asks and he nods.  
  
"What the hell happened here?" He barks at the nearest officer. "Where's Sara?"  
  
"Grissom I am right here. I'm ok."  
  
Grissom quickly walks over to her couch and crouches in front of her; taking in the rather large bruise that is forming over her temple and above her right eye. One of the paramedics interrupts to tell her they need to take her to the hospital for observation.  
  
"No thanks. I will be fine." She tells them.  
  
"Ma'am it really would be better if you came with us."  
  
"Just give me the form and don't worry about it, ok?"  
  
The paramedics look at each other and one hands her the form, she signs it without hesitation and hands it back and they pack up to leave. Both Grissom and Nick think this is a bad idea, but choose not to say anything; Sara can be difficult when her mind is made up. Before actually walking out the door though, the paramedics stop and talk with Grissom briefly.  
  
"She took two pretty nasty blows to the head. Someone needs to stay with her and wake her up every couple of hours. If she is disoriented or her pupils are different sizes, she needs to come in right away." Grissom nods his understanding.  
  
Watching the paramedics leave, Grissom sees the one person he didn't want to, come in. Up to this point he has managed to keep is anger in control, but when Jim Brass walks through the door, he explodes.  
  
"Brass!" He shouts loud enough for everyone in Vegas to hear. "Where the HELL was her tail?"  
  
"She left the labs and no one followed her, I don't know what happened. I have it under control." Brass says as he walks over to Grissom, who is standing at the end of Sara's couch.  
  
"Under control? One of my CSIs could have been KILLED because someone over there was taking a nap. Dammit Brass, it was your bright idea to put her on camera to get the guys attention." They are almost directly in front of Nick and Sara who are still seated on the couch, watching Brass get the ass chewing of his life. "I cannot believe how irresponsible that was, I really didn't think it was that difficult to put a man on one person."  
  
Finally Sara decides to spare Brass further embarrassment and simply reaches up and places a hand on Grissom's arm. He immediately stops his tirade and looks down at the woman sitting near him.  
  
"Grissom, its ok, nothing to serious happened. I am sure that Brass wont let it happen again." She smiles at him.  
  
"No he won't." Grissom directs at Brass. "I am not going to let it, forget your man Brass, I will take care of it."  
  
Simultaneous "What's?" echo through the room as Sara and Brass stare at Grissom confused.  
  
"I said don't worry about the protection. Either myself, Nick or Warrick will be with her." The tone in Grissom's voice says that's it, end of discussion.  
  
"Grissom…" Sara starts and stands up.  
  
"End of discussion Sara, I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. Pack a bag."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"You are staying with me tonight. Don't argue, the paramedic said someone needs to watch you tonight and you aren't staying here."  
  
"I really wish people would stop treating me like a piece of crystal." She looks at Grissom and observes the I-don't-care expression on his face. "I give up, give me 10 minutes." She says and starts to walk into her bedroom but is halted by Nick who has been looking around her apartment.  
  
"Where is your gun?" He asks while looking under furniture.  
  
"Huh?" She responds.  
  
"Your weapon, where is it? Did he have it last?" Nick asks and Sara cocks her head at him trying to remember who had it before she passed out.  
  
"Oh crap. He did. God dammit, now he is armed with my gun. This just keeps getting better doesn't it?" She tells him, turns and walks into her bedroom to pack.  
  
tbc……………..  
  
********************  
  
"I don't like her." Sara  
  
"You don't like other women in his life." Warrick  
  
"I 'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Sara 


	9. Recovery

All disclaimers, ect are on the first chapter. I am leaving the rating as strong PG13, nothing graphic here, just implied. You are warned.  
  
This is my fluffy chapter (you gotta have one), thanks for reading my little fic, I really appreciate it, keep up the reviews. I had to reference the first ep is ever watched; you will know it when you see it.  
  
Enjoy……….  
  
  
  
Chapter 9- Recovery  
  
The ride to Grissom's townhouse is silent. Only because Sara is sound asleep with her head resting on the back of the seat facing him. While they are at a stoplight Grissom just stares at her and wrestles with the feelings he has. Early this morning he had crossed a line, and for once he didn't care if it messed up his carefully controlled life. She was good for him, he saw that now, she helped him to open up a bit and he grounded her. Yin and yang. He sighs and looks around the truck for the umpteenth time since they left her apartment, making sure no one is following them. Seeing no one, Grissom allows himself to continue debating. Granted he is her superior, but he wasn't sure if there was any policy specifically prohibiting relationships between them, he had never run into this problem before. Additionally there was the age difference, but he put that to the side since neither one of them seemed to care much about it.  
  
Fifteen minutes later he pulls into the parking space for his place, and Sara is still sleeping soundly, she hasn't moved an inch. He knew she was exhausted, so he regretted having to wake her, but he also knew she probably wanted to take a shower. Her hand is still bloody from breaking Jason's nose, which he had to admit he's proud of her for, in addition to the blood still in her hair.  
  
Getting out of the Tahoe, Grissom grabs her bag from the back and walks around to the passenger side door. As he opens it, Sara wakes up groggily.  
  
"Hey." She says.  
  
"Hey, we are here. Can you get out?"  
  
"Yea, no problem." Sara moves very slowly in getting out of the truck, her muscles are sore and her ribs are tender from the crash landing on the floor. Grissom watches her carefully, and closes the door behind her. Quietly they walk into Grissom's house, him watching her every move.  
  
"I will take your stuff into my room, I can sleep on the couch. Food or shower first?" He asks her.  
  
"Oh, shower, I am not very hungry actually." She smiles up at him.  
  
"All right." He takes her into the bathroom, gives her a towel, her bag, and closes the door behind him.  
  
Sara waits for the door to close completely and then carefully strips her clothes off, placing them in a neat pile. She looks down at the bandage covering the bullet wound and removes it, Hmm, not so bad she thinks to herself as she looks at it. Might not even have a scar. Turing on the water as hot as she can stand it Sara gets into Grissom's shower and stands there, letting the water wash away what just happened. She can almost still smell Jason on her, in her hair, it is disturbing. Carefully Sara manages to wash her hair, not without some serious stinging from the exposed areas of her scalp though. After rinsing off she stands again to relax her muscles and release some of the soreness in them. All of a sudden she feels dizzy, probably from the steam and heat, and places both hands on the bathtub tile, steadying herself. I will not faint, I will not faint she tells herself, because she knows if she does Grissom will take her, like it or not, straight to the hospital. Sara shuts off the water and waits for the steam to clear, at which point she feels better. She dries off, places a new bandage on her thigh, and puts on her pajamas; she is too tired to think about doing anything but going directly to bed. Gathering her stuff up she leaves the bathroom to find Grissom sitting in the living room reading.  
  
"Feel better?"  
  
"Yes, never underestimate a hot shower." She tells him as she moves into the living room, she has never been to Grissom's and is fascinated with the butterflies on the wall and the large collection of books and journals. Putting her bag down, she moves over to the enormous bookshelves and looks through the titles, her curiosity overtaking her exhaustion. Grissom being Grissom all the books are together as are the journals. Meanwhile Grissom is taking in her pajamas, a little more girly than he was expecting from Sara, they are a dark ruby color, pants and a tank top in what he thinks is satin, she looks stunning in them. When she gets to the magazines she laughs out loud and pulls one from the shelf. Grissom hasn't heard her laugh in so long and is so focused on the smile on her face he doesn't even notice what she is holding.  
  
"You have to be kidding me." She says a huge smile on her face. "Applied Psychodynamics in Forensic Science? Oh my god." She says and flies into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.  
  
"I told you it existed, you didn't believe me."  
  
"Sorry." She says as she attempts to gain control of her laughter. "I just thought...oh never mind." She says and puts the magazine back where she found it. Grissom gets up and stands a little too close to her.  
  
"You thought what?" He presses her.  
  
"Nothing…I thought you were flirting with me a little. Its stupid, forget I mentioned it." She says and backs away from him.  
  
"I was." He says matter of factly.  
  
She looks at him confused, "Huh?"  
  
"I was flirting with you." He says and closes the gap between them.  
  
"Uh, are you sure I am the one with the head injury here?" Sara says but doesn't move, she lets Grissom move into her personal space.  
  
"Sara I have never been so terrified in my life then when I got that call from Nick. I thought for sure I had lost you for good." He tells her with a very serious look on his face. "Its true when they say you don't realize what you have until it's gone. The ride over to your apartment I thought about what my life would be without you in it. I didn't like it the picture much. I do notice you Sara, I always have, I just was afraid of letting you in, because I knew that you understand me better than anyone, I couldn't give up control like that. You mean more to me than just a friend or a co- worker, you are special to me Sara." Suddenly he stops rambling, wanting to say more, just unsure how to say it.  
  
Sara just stands there stunned at what he is telling her. "Grissom, I….I don't know what to say." She is honestly speechless.  
  
Without saying a word he closes the gap between them, and even in her bare feet Sara is still nearly face to face with him, and lightly kisses her on the lips. Sara's brain seems to be going in a million different directions when she feels Grissom's lips on hers. It was something she had wanted for so long, and she was shocked when it actually happened, but she responded to him, returning the kiss. Before either of them realize it, a soft kiss has turned hard and passionate, both of them releasing pent up emotion in that instant of time.  
  
Suddenly Grissom pulls away from her. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have done that right now, bad timing. But I don't regret it."  
  
"No, me either." She tells him her brown eyes shining at him, tinged with exhaustion.  
  
"You really need sleep, we can continue this later." He tells her and escorts her to his bedroom. Slowly she gets into his bed and rolls over to face him.  
  
"Thank you Grissom." She says while stifling a yawn and closing her eyes. She is asleep almost before she finishes his name.  
  
"Good night Sara." He tells her sleeping form pulls up an extra blanket for her and walks into the living room, setting his internal alarm for two hours to wake her up.  
  
Grissom is woken before his alarm goes off by a short scream emanating from his bedroom. He jumps up from the couch and walks quickly into the room to find Sara sitting straight up in the bed, breathing hard, trying to control herself.  
  
"Sara?"  
  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, bad dream." Even in the dark room Grissom can see she is shaking hard.  
  
"Hey, its ok. I was going to have to wake you up soon anyway." He tells her while moving to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. "Want to tell me what it was about?" He asks her, hoping she will actually tell him, instead of getting the brush off he is expecting.  
  
She thinks for a minute and then softly tells him "He came back, to finish what he started, I suppose, and you and Nicky where there. He killed you both right in front of me. Which is worse then him actually killing me."  
  
He just stares at her; she hasn't looked at him yet, choosing instead to focus on her lap. Reaching over, he carefully pushes some hair off her face and gets her attention. "I am right here, nothing is going to happen. I know I told you that before, but this time you are not leaving my sight. Ok"  
  
"Ok." She says it so quietly he has to strain to hear her.  
  
"Good, try and get some sleep. I will be right outside if you need me." He tells her as she lies back down and he covers her in the blanket. As he pulls his hand away, she reaches up and grabs his wrist.  
  
"Please stay."  
  
"All right." He is surprised by her request, but is glad to know that she still trusts him despite a broken promise. Quietly he slips under the covers and pulls her back into his chest, feeling the warmth of her body, reassuring him she is fine.  
  
"Its ok Grissom." She tells him in the dark. "It was a freak thing that the tail didn't follow me." She rolls over in his arms so they are now facing each other. "Don't feel guilty, it was out of your control, and mine for that matter."  
  
It was Grissom's turn to be stunned, she had put him at ease about some of the things that were troubling him. It was as if she could read his thoughts, yin and yang he thought for the second time today. Grissom closes his arms around her tighter, he can feel her heart beating in her chest, and it is reassuring to him. All Sara knows is that she has not felt this safe in a very long time, and the only person who can make her feel this way is the one she's with right now.  
  
"Good night." He whispers to her and kisses the top of her head.  
  
"Good night." She responds and tilts her head up, kissing him on the lips. She can almost feel the electricity from that one kiss course through her body. She wants more. So Sara kisses him again, this time with more force, and now he responds back. When they stop for air, he breaks the silence, knowing if they continue where its going to go, and he doesn't want to take advantage of her considering the past few days.  
  
"Sara, this isn't a good time…."  
  
"Gil, shut up and don't think for once, will you. I am an adult, I can make decisions for myself." She tells him, while kissing him along his jaw line.  
  
"Yeah…ok…." He can barely respond before carefully rolling them over so he is lying partially on top of her, mindful of her sore ribs. He stares her right in the eyes and asks a question without speaking the words he knows she will understand. She simply nods.  
  
Not another word is spoken for the rest of the day except for small noises coming from Sara. He is incredibly careful with her, marveling in her body, beautiful despite the bruises that are now almost formed, an ever-present reminder. She had never, ever felt this way with a man, Grissom was…she simply didn't have a word for it, she felt connected to him now more than before if that was possible; two sides of the same coin she thought, Yin and yang. When they finally managed to get some sleep it was restful for them both.  
  
tbc……  
  
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"You know, high altitudes increases the entire sexual experience. It increases the euphoria." Grissom  
  
"Its good, I don't know if its that good…*curious* Cite your source." Sara  
  
"Hand me a swab please." Grissom  
  
"You're avoiding the question. Enhances sexual experience, increases euphoria. Cite your source." Sara  
  
"A magazine." Grissom  
  
"What magazine?" Sara  
  
"Applied Psychodynamics in Forensic Science." Grissom  
  
"Never heard of it." Sara  
  
"I'll get you a subscription…." Grissom 


	10. Discovery

Disclaimers, ect are on the first chapter. We are going to continue the strong PG13 rating, thanks!  
  
Huge thank you to all of you that have reviewed, there is one more chapter after this and I am done. I really appreciate it!!!  
  
  
  
Chapter 10- Discovery  
  
Twice more during sleep Grissom woke her up to check her pupils and see if she was at all disoriented, both times she was fine, if a bit annoyed. When he woke up for the third, and last time he looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms, he couldn't believe she was there, he was almost expecting to wake up alone on the couch, that day having been a sweet dream. Looking at the clock he realized that they needed to get out of bed, shift started in two hours and they hadn't eaten today. He was debating the safety in taking her out to eat when she stirred in his arms, opening her eyes.  
  
"Morning…. well I guess evening now." She says and smiles at him. He would do anything for her when she gave him that grin.  
  
"Evening, how are you feeling?"  
  
Slowly Sara stretches her muscles and evaluates her headache. "My head hurts still, and I am a little sore, but other than that I feel great." Observing the wary look on his face she reiterates, "Really Gris, I am ok, some bumps and bruises, nothing serious, I will make it."  
  
"Allright, if I had my way you wouldn't even come to work, but in reality that's probably the safest place for you. And remember, you go nowhere without one of us."  
  
She smiles at his sudden protective streak "I know Grissom. How bout some food though?"  
  
"No problem, take a shower and I will order something." He tells her, happy to see her appetite is back.  
  
"Thank you Grissom. For everything." She tells him and reaches up for a kiss; he leans into her and wraps her up in his long arms. What seems like an eternity later they break.  
  
"Go shower, we don't have time to get distracted." At her mischievous look he shakes his head "Come on Sara, go." As swiftly as she can, Sara sits up and looks around for her pajamas, which where thrown somewhere during the days activities. Grissom stares at her naked back, which is covered in bruises of varying degrees. Damn, he must have checked her hard he thought and in that instant realizes that he is capable of killing someone. Without even thinking Grissom reaches out and touches one of the nastier looking spots right under her ribcage, the bruise spreads around her side, almost a pitch-black color. He didn't remember it being that dark earlier, it must have gotten worse. As soon as he touches it, she sucks in a breath and flinches away from him.  
  
"Hey, careful, that hurt."  
  
"Sorry, that's a nasty bruise Sara, how in the world did you get one there?" He looks at her concerned, she hadn't really told him the whole story of what happened that morning.  
  
Staining to remember Sara thinks back. "Oh. I know, I think. When he tackled me, I hit the kitchen island first, then the floor. Hurt like nothing else, let me tell you." She tells him and finally slides out of bed. She finds her nightclothes, puts them on, and before leaving leans over Grissom who is still sitting on the bed, and kisses him hard. He can tell she is behaving more like Sara, though honestly he has no idea how Sara should behave in this situation.  
  
Following her lead, Grissom gets out of bed, throwing on clothes until he can also shower and orders in Chinese for them. Vegetable stir-fry for her of course. After a while Grissom realizes that she has been in the shower for a long time and goes in to check on her.  
  
"Sara?" He asks as he opens the door. He can see her silhouetted against the shower curtain; she is just standing still, not making a move. Worried, he walks over to the shower curtain and peeks behind it. What he sees doesn't surprise him that much, he was waiting for the emotional wave to really hit her, and up until now she was either to busy or to tired to think about it. She is standing under the water, sobbing noiselessly, the only reason he can tell what is happening is the shaking of her body from the effort to hold it in.  
  
"Sara." He says softly, stripping his clothes and joining her. "Its ok, shhhh baby, shhhh." He grabs her in a hug as he says this, both of them now under the water spray. After a few minutes her body stops shaking and she looks up at him.  
  
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I was fine and then all of a sudden it hit me you know. God, I am a mess."  
  
"No Sara you aren't, most people would have cracked long before now. You are a very strong person, don't forget that."  
  
She gives him a small smile and releases the hold she has on him. "Go ahead the shower is yours, I was done."  
  
"Ok, I ordered food, should be here soon." She just nods in acknowledgement.  
  
When he gets out of the shower, she is sitting at the breakfast area of the kitchen, dressed and her hair is dried, opening small white boxes. "Hurry up, just got here." She tells him and goes back to finding the one without a meat product in it.  
  
When he joins her again at the table she has already dug into her food. Giving her a quick once over, he makes note that she is looking better, her eyes are alert and aside from some obvious soreness she seems fine. He observes the bruise over her temple and almost winces, while not as bad as the one on her back, its obvious that she had be hit hard. She had been very lucky something scared the guy off, and so was he. He also owed a debt of gratitude to Nick, if he hadn't called…Grissom didn't want to think about that outcome.  
  
"Sorry, I was hungry." She tells him and looks up, noticing the odd expression on his face.  
  
"No problem."  
  
They eat in silence for a while until he notices she has stopped eating and is simply playing with what little food is left on her plate.  
  
"Sara, what's the matter?"  
  
"Huh? Oh nothing….. I was thinking, how are we going to do this? I mean are we going to tell people about us? Cause I really don't know if that is wise…"  
  
He cuts off her rambling by touching her arm. "I think for now we tell no one, and I mean no one, this is between you and I. If the day shift ever got wind of it, Ecklie would come down on us in no time."  
  
"That's fine, but Grissom, I think people will start to figure it out. Not so much the day shift as Catherine, Warrick and Nick. They aren't stupid. We are trying to keep this from trained investigators you know."  
  
"If they ask just don't confirm it, I know they will be discreet, as will we. I am going to check on something, ok?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"All right then, we need to get going." He tells her as he gets up and picks up their plates. Sara gets up, puts on shoes, grabs her coat and waits for Grissom at the door while he does the same.  
  
"Hey" He says to get her attention before he opens the front door and as she turns to him grabs her by the waist and kisses her passionately. When he breaks it off, he has a huge smile on his face, something Sara almost never sees and knows she will never see it unless they are behind closed doors.  
  
Arriving at work Grissom heads to his office and Sara to the locker room where she meets up with Nick and Warrick.  
  
"Hey girl. How are you feeling?" Warrick asks and gives her a gentle hug, he had been worried when Nicky called and told him what had happened. He noticed the nasty bruise on her temple, but choose to not acknowledge it. He doubted any of them, except Brass, would get the whole story about what happened.  
  
"Better thanks, a little sore and aside from Grissom waking me up every 2 hours, I slept great." She smiles at them.  
  
"How was sleeping at Grissom's? Was it creepy?" Nick has to ask, he has heard about their bosses townhouse, with the bugs and spiders, but had never been in it.  
  
"Lets just say it was an interesting experience." She says with no obvious tone, but her face is sending another signal. Warrick notices immediately her strange answer and expression on her face and suspects something but just nods in response.  
  
"Grissom already filled us in. One of us should be with you all the time, so don't even think about pulling a fast one on us missy." Nick tells her; oblivious to the look that Warrick is giving Sara.  
  
"I would never do such a thing." She says laughing, it felt good to be with her friends.  
  
The three of them walk down the hall and meet Grissom and Catherine in the break room to get assignments. Grissom can hear her light laughter down the hall and a wistful expression crosses his face. Catherine notices, but before she can question him the younger CSIs enter the room, Catherine watches as Sara and Grissom pass a glance, longer than usual, and in that instant she knows. Gotcha she thinks to herself.  
  
Grissom looks around the table and starts "Ok, here's what we have. There is an APB out for Jason Reading and right now he is Brass's top priority and therefore the LVPDs top priority. He is now armed with Sara's service weapon and considered extremely dangerous. There isn't much we can do right now except to keep your eyes peeled. I am going to tell you guys again, I dismissed the tail Brass had initially ordered after the incident this morning at Sara's apartment. So if she leaves the building one of us needs to be with her, every time, I cant put enough emphasis on that. We have no idea how this guy is getting around or how he found her apartment. Now, we do have work for tonight. Warrick and Catherine possible 419 at a party store in Henderson. Nicky, missing male at the MGM. Sara and I will take the body found in the desert. All right everyone lets go."  
  
While getting into the Tahoe Warrick looks at Catherine and asks "Grissom and Sara?"  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
tbc…………….  
  
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"But why did the tire come apart in the first place?" Sara  
  
"I don't know." Grissom  
  
"I do" Sara 


	11. The End

Disclaimers ect on the first chapter and we are back to a regular PG13 rating here.  
  
Woo hoo! Its finally done, satisfying and yet sad all at the same time. Oh well, you gotta let go at some point I guess. (  
  
Well as a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, I posted 2 chapters tonight. A HUGE thanks to all who reviewed, its very encouraging, especially for a new author. I have to apologize to all of those who were hoping more Catherine, Nick and Warrick I have a hard time writing them, especially Catherine. So I only used them peripherally, I didn't really realize it until like the third chapter and just ran with it. Again I cannot thank you guys enough….every day I check and it makes me sooooo happy. Anyway enough with my ramblings….. enjoy!  
  
Chapter 11- The End  
  
After Sara has a nice long chat with Brass and gets her gun replaced, she and Grissom head out to the desert where someone found a mostly buried body. When they begin to dig up the body Sara notices its not a human, looking closer she determines its probably a dog and whoever had called it in obviously didn't get a good look, they had just seen bones sticking up from the sand and the police on scene hadn't touched anything.  
  
"Well that was fun." Sara says ruefully on the way back.  
  
"We have to check everything." He says, giving her a long look.  
  
"I know, I know."  
  
When they return to the labs they are the only ones there. Sara goes to finish up some reports and do some backlog work for the dayshift while Grissom retreats into his office to check on one of his bug experiments. Just when the utter silence was starting to get to her, the rest of the team starts trickling in.  
  
Nicky comes up to her and leans over her shoulder watching her fill out paperwork "Heard your body was a canine." He says with that Nicky grin.  
  
"Yep, sure was. Got a nice road trip to the desert out of it though." She replies sarcastically looking at him. At that moment Warrick walks in and takes the opportunity to hassle her a bit.  
  
"Yea, with Grissom." The tone in which he says it makes Sara turn around in her chair and look at him. When she turns to face him, Warrick notices the expression of alarm that briefly crosses her features before being replaced by feigned confusion.  
  
"What are you talking about Warrick?" She asks with the most innocent expression she can muster. She couldn't believe Warrick was onto them already. This is not good.  
  
"Nothing I suppose." He smiles at her, getting a bit of joy out of making her squirm. He knows he would never reveal anything. Nicky just watches the conversation in front of him confused, knowing there is a whole other one going on but he just doesn't know the topic, when suddenly he understands.  
  
"Ohhhh." Nicky says and looks as two pairs of eyes settle on him. One amused the other has the deer in headlights look.  
  
"All caught up now Nicky?" Warrick asks, almost ready to start laughing.  
  
"Oh my god, you guys…." Sara starts, but is cut off by a very serious looking Warrick.  
  
"Don't worry about it, we don't know anything. Right Nick?"  
  
"Nothing." Nick responds nodding his head.  
  
"Thanks" She says and the two men just smile at her.  
  
"Anytime." Warrick tells her and pats her shoulder.  
  
Unexpectedly Grissom comes into the room, an indescribable look on his face, and stares at the three people there. It looked to him like something had just happened, but he placed that to the back of his head for the time being.  
  
"Brass just called, they have a report of a man fitting the suspects description wandering up and down the strip, bothering women, he appears to be carrying a gun. Currently he is in front of New York, New York."  
  
"Lets go." Warrick says and he and Nick head out the door. Sara tries to follow but is halted by Grissom at the doorway. She gives him an unyielding look and he lets her go past, he wasn't in the mood to argue with her, besides he was pretty sure he would lose anyway. Plus half the LVPD was heading there now.  
  
Grissom and Sara get into the Tahoe with Nick and Warrick; Catherine was already enroute with Brass. The ride out to the strip seems to take forever to Sara and she just stares out the window, hoping this is the end to this whole mess. More than once, Grissom looks over at her and worries about her safety and her emotional state and hopes that this time they catch Jason Reading. It isn't hard to find where the problem is, the strip has been shut down from New York to the Monte Carlo on both sides and Tropicana Blvd has been closed completely. The last thing Vegas needed was a tourist getting injured or killed.  
  
Arriving on scene, the group finds that they are almost first on scene, seeing Brass quickly. As they get out, each one goes to the back of the truck, grabbing a police jacket, Sara is last and Grissom is getting concerned about the time its taking her when she suddenly appears and accompanies them to get debriefed.  
  
"What's going on? How come your guys haven't taken him yet?" Grissom asks testily.  
  
"Cause we have a problem." Brass responds. "He managed to grab a girl before we got here so now it's a hostage situation." Sara just looks at him with an incredibly beleaguered look on her face. The team takes in the scene around them; Jason has the hostage on the walkway in front of the casino holding onto her for dear life. Right now there are maybe five cars and seven officers who have formed a semi-circle around them at a safe distance in the street. Just as Sara is about to say something, commotion behind them causes the group to look at the suspect and his hostage. Until this point Jason was simply holding the girl tightly and screaming at the police who where surrounding him incoherently. Now Jason has the gun lifted and pointed at the woman's head. His screaming also becomes more understandable, the police have spooked him, and his head keeps darting from officer to officer.  
  
"Back off, back off, back off…. she's going to die you know, I am going to make sure of that. But you…you need to get away from me, do you hear me? Go away!" He is screaming at the police who have surrounded him and the woman, who is looking terrified. Grissom notes that the woman fits the profile to a T yet again. Brunette, he couldn't tell eye color, tall and thin. Grissom is so focused on the situation in front of him that he doesn't notice Sara walking forward until it's too late.  
  
"Jason!" She screams as loud as she can and takes a few steps toward Jason, stepping into the semi-circle that the police have formed around him. He looks around confused for a moment until Sara steps even closer "Right here Jason, I am right here." She tells him and gets right in his line of sight. Meanwhile the rest of the team stands there staring at her, beyond concerned. Nick and Warrick finally look at each other afraid for their friend. Grissom just stares, he cannot believe she would put herself at risk like that. He is terrified and yet furious with her all at the same time. What is she thinking? He asks himself, not bothering to try and hide the look on his face, he finally had her in his life; he didn't want to lose her. Quietly Catherine puts a hand on his shoulder, trying to give him some comfort.  
  
She whispers to him "It will be ok Grissom." Though she didn't believe that one hundred percent herself.  
  
He just stares at her with a blank look on his face "What is she thinking?" he voices aloud to her.  
  
"Grissom this has consumed her life the past three days, she feels guilty about those women's deaths and wants it to end. She thinks whatever happens is her penance." She says softly.  
  
Slowly Sara approaches Jason and takes a deep breath, she didn't care how it ended at this point, as long as it did. She hadn't been thinking when she walked out toward him, calling attention to herself, not thinking about her safety, or what Grissom was probably thinking. She just didn't want another persons blood on her hands and decided to take care of it herself. She is aware of the procedures for hostage situations and knew this woman would be dead if left to that.  
  
"Jason, its me, Sara. Let that woman go, you have the wrong person."  
  
"No, no, no you are trying to trick me. I know you are, I know you Sara." He says and looks at the woman he has the gun trained on. "You're a dead woman Sara." He whispers to her, the woman just screams.  
  
"NO! Jason, I am Sara… look at me. Remember yesterday morning Jason? What did you do?" Sara is visibly shaking at this point; but doesn't let it show in her voice, which is strong and confident.  
  
"I almost had you then Sara, almost, so close, but then I heard the sirens and I know I couldn't do what need to be done in time, so…so I ran."  
  
"Right. What happened though? You attacked me right? You remember hitting me in the head? Do you? After I broke your nose?" Sara tries to remain calm, any perceived threat to this man and both she and the hostage were dead.  
  
For a moment he looks confused and then silently nods.  
  
"Ok Jason, look at me, look at my head, you see the bruise here?" She asks, pointing to the livid area on her temple. "See…. you gave me that when you hit me back. I am who you want Jason, not her. She didn't kill your brother; I did, shot him right in the chest. Remember? Its me you want Jason…not her, not her." Sara says the last part softly and she can tell that Jason is considering her words, the gun is now down by his side and he is looking at Sara very carefully, paying particular attention to the bruise. Slowly Sara advances on Jason, gauging his reaction.  
  
"Let her go Jason and you can have me. Ok? That's fair right? You don't want to kill the wrong person again do you Jason?" She says and slips between the roping on the bridge stepping onto it with him, stopping maybe five feet from him. Grissom is getting increasingly anxious as he watches, and though he cannot hear what Sara is saying he knows what she is doing, trading for herself. Never in his life has he felt such dread, he has a bad feeling about the way this is going to end.  
  
"Come on Jason." She says when he makes no move to release the hostage. "You aren't giving your brother justice by killing the wrong person." That gets his attention.  
  
"No, no, I don't want to do that. He would be angry with me." Slowly his grip loosens on the woman and Sara nods to her to run. When she is clear of the walkway Sara takes a few steps closer.  
  
"You did the right thing there Jason, James will be very proud of you." Sara says and closes the gap, she is now standing almost directly in front of him, maybe three or four feet from him. Close enough for her to see the madness in his eyes and it scared her.  
  
"Yes I did, and he will be even more proud when you are dead." He says with sudden clarity and points the gun directly at her. Sara didn't expect this, though she should have known, honestly she didn't have a plan after the hostage was released, she hadn't thought that far ahead, she is working on adrenaline.  
  
"Jason, come on…is shooting me enough?" She says trying to by more time.  
  
"Yes, it will have to be. I am not as crazy as I look Sara, I know I am dead one way or the other. This is my last chance." He says with a deadly tone.  
  
The next few seconds seemed go by in slow motion for her. She heard the shot, maybe two or three, she couldn't be sure, and felt incredible pain in her chest and abdomen as she hit the ground. Just before she passed out, she heard Grissom screaming her name and she remembers the fear in his voice and then several more shots before darkness came over her.  
  
Grissom couldn't believe it, she was standing there and then she was on the ground, shot point blank in the chest, twice. He was aware of Warrick holding him back while the police fired at Jason and he too hit the ground in a sea of blood. He was almost outside himself, he could hear her name being called and it sounded like his voice, but he couldn't remember saying the words. Finally Grissom pushes past the younger man as the police advance on the two people laying prone, their guns trained on Jason. When he finally gets to her he kneels down next to her, the look on his face enough to keep the police at bay for the moment, besides they are busy with Jason. She is so pale and motionless; he is frozen into inaction, thoughts swirling in his head, horrible thoughts of burying her. By then Catherine, Nick and Warrick had caught up to him and where also staring down at their fallen colleague and friend, assuming the worst. She had taken two slugs right in the chest.  
  
Finally Grissom snaps out of it, reaching down with a shaky hand and touching her neck, searching for a pulse, finding none but continues to search, unwilling to let go. The others look on in horror as they realize what is happening. Catherine starts to cry openly while Nick and Warrick try desperately not too.  
  
"Oh my god." Grissom says and turns to a police officer "Get that ambulance, she is alive."  
  
The officer nods and motions to the paramedics who where already on the scene. Before they can even get there though Sara opens her eyes and moans loudly.  
  
"God dammit that hurt." she says with some difficulty and slowly pulls herself into a sitting position. Her friends all stare at her in amazement, and complete confusion. They had just seen her shot, why was she sitting up? Is the thought on everyone's mind.  
  
"Sara, lay back, you where shot." Catherine says confused by her behavior and looks at Grissom who has a knowing look on his face.  
  
"Yea, no kidding, and it hurt. You know I really didn't think it would hurt that much. Damn." The last part she says while looking at Grissom who appears very angry. Uh oh she thinks. Glancing at the people around her and taking in their confusion, Sara slowly unbuttons her shirt to reveal a Kevlar vest, dented in two spots where the bullets had hit and were still lodged securely in place.  
  
"Dammit girl. You scared the shit out of us. Again!" Warrick almost yells at her. "We thought you were dead."  
  
"I am sorry, I had a feeling and was going to tell you…. but we got distracted." Sara's breathing appears labored to Grissom as she is talking. The paramedics finally make it up to her; they hadn't rushed when they noticed her sitting up.  
  
"Ma'am are you ok?"  
  
"Yea, just having a hard time breathing." She says slowly.  
  
"Ok, lets take a look." They say and help her to remove her jacket, shirt and vest, effectively pushing Grissom and Catherine out of the way, leaving her in a tank top that she had worn underneath. "Whoa, you are a very lucky lady." One says to her and shows her the inside of the vest. One of the bullets points was through the vest, if she had been half a foot closer it would have gone all the way through.  
  
"Jesus" Grissom hisses a little louder than he wanted to while rubbing his face with his hands. He has been pacing the entire time since he was removed from her side. When he looks down one paramedic is pressing on Sara's midsection and she sucks in a breath when he hits the spot right where the bullet almost went through.  
  
"Looks like a cracked rib, maybe broken. Lets get you to the hospital and check it out." He says and Sara just nods.  
  
"He's dead." Nick reports as he and Warrick return from talking to Brass.  
  
Coldly Grissom responds "Good" and follows Sara into the ambulance.  
  
"We will meet you there." Warrick yells and Grissom nods in response.  
  
As the doors close Warrick looks at Nick, "I wouldn't want to be her right now, he is pissed."  
  
"Oh yea." Nick agrees and they meet with Catherine and head over to the hospital.  
  
"Dammit Sara, that was a stupid thing you did. What were you thinking?" He was practically yelling at her in the back of the ambulance.  
  
"I…. I wasn't thinking Grissom I…I am sorry. I just new that he was determined to kill someone, and it wasn't going to be that woman. I had to stop him. Plus I had the vest on, I knew I was safe, I just didn't expect him to shoot me so soon." The look on her face was enough for him to soften and he immediately felt bad for yelling.  
  
"God Sara, do you have any idea what you did to me tonight? That was a huge chance you took. What if he had shot you in the head? We wouldn't even be having this conversation. I swear I aged 20 years in that one instant. I thought you were dead. Gone, forever. Do you see that?" He was talking to her desperately, trying to make her understand.  
  
"Yes Gil I see that. Do you understand why I did what I did?" She asks him quietly. He nods without saying a word.  
  
"Good." She says and grabs his hands in hers. "I am truly sorry I scared you."  
  
"Good." He says quietly and leans into her, putting his forehead on hers. "I love you Sara, more than you know."  
  
She looks at him stunned for the moment then responds. "I love you too Gil."  
  
***************************  
  
She looks down at the headstone, the second one she has seen today and sighs. Feeling a hand on her shoulder Sara turns around and looks at Grissom.  
  
"Thanks for bringing me out here. It stinks not being able to drive yet." She tells him.  
  
"No problem."  
  
"I…I just had to come out here you know. Explain why this happened. They had no idea what was going on. I feel like I owe it to them you know?" She looks into his eyes and finally sees that he really does understand. "They deserve to know."  
  
He nods at her and walks away. When he turns back she is squatting in front of the headstone, talking.  
  
"Ok, ready." She says after about 15 minutes, wiping away tears from her eyes, and they head back down the hill to the Tahoe. She finally let go of her guilt, she knows now that there was nothing she could have possibly done. Looking up at the man standing next to her Sara smiles, maybe some good had come of this whole mess.  
  
Grissom looks down at her and catches her smiling at him, he returns the smile, grabs her hand and they walk to the truck. They were moving on with their lives, together.  
  
Fin  
  
**************************************  
  
"Its easy to wear your heart on your sleeve when your not looking in his eyes." Sara (You've Got Male) 


End file.
